16
Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.
17
When men could not honor monarchs in their presence, since they lived at a distance, they imagined their appearance far away, and made a visible image of the king whom they honored, so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.
18
Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.
19
For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler, skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,
20
and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work, now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a man.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.