Letter of Jeremiah 6:8-18

8 Their tongues are smoothed by the carpenter, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and silver; but they are false and cannot speak.
9 People [a] take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods, as they might for a girl who loves ornaments.
10 Sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods and spend it on themselves,
11 or even give some of it to the prostitutes on the terrace. They deck their gods [b] out with garments like human beings—these gods of silver and gold and wood
12 that cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion. When they have been dressed in purple robes,
13 their faces are wiped because of the dust from the temple, which is thick upon them.
14 One of them holds a scepter, like a district judge, but is unable to destroy anyone who offends it.
15 Another has a dagger in its right hand, and an ax, but cannot defend itself from war and robbers.
16 From this it is evident that they are not gods; so do not fear them.
17 For just as someone's dish is useless when it is broken,
18 so are their gods when they have been set up in the temples. Their eyes are full of the dust raised by the feet of those who enter. And just as the gates are shut on every side against anyone who has offended a king, as though under sentence of death, so the priests make their temples secure with doors and locks and bars, in order that they may not be plundered by robbers.

Footnotes 2

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.