Idolatry Forbidden

[15] Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: [16] Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, [17] The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, [18] The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: [19] And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. [20] But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. [21] Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: [22] But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. [23] Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. [24] For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. [25] When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: [26] I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. [27] And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you. [28] And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. [29] But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. [30] When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; [31] (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

[1] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, [2] Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. [3] Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. [4] Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God. [5] And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will. [6] It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. [7] And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. [8] Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.