8. But again, not even these are pardonable.
9. For if they so far succeeded in knowledgethat they could speculate about the world,how did they not more quickly find its Lord?
10. But wretched are they, and in dead things are their hopes,who termed gods things made by human hands:Gold and silver, the product of art, and images of beasts,or useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.
11. A carpenter may cut down a suitable treeand skillfully scrape off all its bark,And deftly plying his artproduce something fit for daily use,
12. And use the scraps from his handiworkin preparing his food, and have his fill;
13. Then the good-for-nothing refuse from these remnants,crooked wood grown full of knots,he takes and carves to occupy his spare time.This wood he models with mindless skill,and patterns it on the image of a human being
14. or makes it resemble some worthless beast.When he has daubed it with red and crimsoned its surface with red stain,and daubed over every blemish in it,
15. He makes a fitting shrine for itand puts it on the wall, fastening it with a nail.
16. Thus he provides for it lest it fall down,knowing that it cannot help itself;for, truly, it is an image and needs help.
17. But when he prays about his goods or marriage or children,he is not ashamed to address the thing without a soul.For vigor he invokes the powerless;
18. for life he entreats the dead;For aid he beseeches the wholly incompetent;for travel, something that cannot even walk;
19. For profit in business and success with his handshe asks power of a thing with hands utterly powerless.