10
The thing that has been produced will be punished along with the one who produced it.
11
Therefore, God will come in judgment on the nation's idols, for they have turned a part of God's creation into something that God hates. They have produced stumbling blocks for the well-being of humans, a trap set to spring when the feet of the foolish step on it.
12
The very notion of idols was the beginning of immoral sexual activity. The invention of idols ruined human life.
13
In the beginning, idols didn't exist, and they won't last forever.
14
They came into the world through the empty-headed imaginings of humans. Therefore, they'll come to a quick end.
15
Imagine a father overcome with grief at the untimely death of his child. In his grief, he makes an image of the child. The person who was once a corpse he now honors as a god. He passes it on to those under his authority, along with certain mysteries and special ceremonies.
16
As time goes by, his godless custom becomes tradition. Eventually, his custom becomes law, and rulers order the people to worship these carved images.
17
These rulers, moreover, lived far away from most of their subjects. So because the people couldn't pay their respects in person, they imagined what the ruler looked like and made an image of their honored leader. By their diligent efforts, they were thus still able to shower the king with their flattery.
18
But the artist's desire to be recognized for his work also incited the fools to an ever greater intensity of worship.
19
Perhaps out of a desire to please the person in power, the artist makes the most of his artistic skill to fashion an even more beautiful and perfect image.
20
The masses, charmed by the object's workmanship, now begin to consider the object worthy of their worship, where not long before they had only honored the person as a human being.