The makers of idols are all nothingness; the works they delight in serve no purpose. And these are the witness against them: they see nothing, they know nothing; and so they will be put to shame. Who ever fashioned a god or cast an image without hope of gain? Watch how all its devotees will be put to shame, and the men who made it too, who are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forward and feel both fear and shame!

The blacksmith makes an axe over the charcoal, beat it into shape with a hammer, works on it with his strong arm. Then he feels hungry and his strength deserts him; having drunk no water, he is exhausted.

The wood carver takes his measurements, outlines the image with chalk, executes it with the chisel, following the outline with a compass. He makes it look like a human being, with human standards of beauty, so that it can reside in a house. He has cut down cedars, has selected an oak and a terebinth which he has grown for himself among the trees in the forest and has planted a pine tree which the rain has nourished. Once it is suitable to burn, he takes some of it to warm himself; having kindled it, he bakes bread. But he also makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol from it and bows down before it. Half of it he burns on the fire, over this half he roasts meat, eats it and is replete; at the same time he warms himself and says, ‘Ah, how warm I am, watching the flames!’ With the remainder he makes a god, his idol, bows down before it, worships it and prays to it. ‘Save me,’ he says, ‘for you are my god.’

They know nothing, they understand nothing, since their eyes are incapable of seeing and their hearts of reflecting. Not one of them looks into his heart, not one of them has the knowledge and wit to think, ‘I burned half of it on the fire and cooked food over the embers. Am I right to make something disgusting out of what is left? Am I right to bow down before a block of wood?’

He hankers after ashes, his deluded heart has led him astray; he will not save himself, he will not think, ‘What I have in my hand is nothing but a lie!