3
They should have known that all these things—which they took to be gods and delighted in—were much less beautiful than the one who rules them all. The creator of beauty itself created them.
4
Those who fear the power and might of created things should know how much more powerful than these things is the one who fashioned them.
5
These people could have perceived something of the one who created all things as they thought about the power and beauty of the things that were created.
6
It is for this reason that they're not without guilt. Yet perhaps we shouldn't blame them too much. They may have gone astray while they were looking for God, wanting to find him.
7
They spend a lot of time exploring his works. Something about their appearance leads them to wonder, for the things that they see are indeed wonderful.
8
Even so, these persons aren't excused.
9
After all, if they were indeed able to know so much that they could speculate about space and time, how is it that they weren't able to discover the ruler of space and time more quickly?
10
How much more miserable, though, are those people who put their trust in things that are dead? These people call gods the works of human hands, objects of gold and silver that artisans practice on, artistic representations of animals, even worthless stones carved by someone long ago.
11
Imagine this. A woodcutter with some skill cuts down a pliable shrub. He carefully strips the outside covering of the plant and then, because he has some skill, shapes it into a tool for daily use.
12
Afterward he picks up the leftover bark that he had stripped away and uses it to cook a meal for himself. He eats his fill and
13
then picks up one of the leftover pieces of wood, one that wasn't good for anything, a crooked hard piece with broken ends where the branches had been. Having nothing else to do, he takes this piece of wood and starts carving. By a process of trial and error, he's finally able to give it a human shape,