worship of false gods

²“I am the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, out of the house of servitude. ³You shall not have strange gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth below, nor of those things which are in the waters under the earth. ⁵You shall not adore them, nor shall you worship them. I am the Lord your God: strong, zealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my precepts.

³You shall not have strange gods before me.

¹⁴Do not be willing to worship any strange god. The jealous Lord is his name. God is a rival.

²⁰But the things that the Gentiles immolate, they immolate to demons, and not to God. And I do not want you to become partakers with demons.

⁴You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth below, nor of those things which are in the waters under the earth. ⁵You shall not adore them, nor shall you worship them. I am the Lord your God: strong, zealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my precepts.

⁷And the wisdom of the flesh is inimical to God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be.

²⁴God is Spirit. And so, those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

³⁰be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.’ ³¹You shall not act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.

¹⁴Because of this, most beloved of mine, flee from the worship of idols.

²¹For where your treasure is, there also is your heart.

⁴⁶But why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?

⁷And in vain do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and precepts of men.’

⁹And he said to them: “You effectively nullify the precept of God, so that you may observe your own tradition.

¹“If there will have arisen in your midst a prophet, or someone who claims that he had seen a dream, and if he will have predicted sign and portent, ²and if what he has spoken happens, and he says to you, ‘Let us go and follow strange gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ ³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you, so that it may become clear whether or not you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴Follow the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and listen to his voice. Him shall you serve, and to him shall you cling. ⁵But that prophet or forger of dreams shall be put to death. For he has spoken so as to turn you away from the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt and who redeemed you from the house of servitude, and so as to cause you to wander from the way that the Lord your God has entrusted to you. And so shall you remove the evil from your midst. ⁶If your brother, the son of your mother, or your own son or daughter, or your wife who is in your bosom, or your friend, whom you love like your own soul, were willing to persuade you secretly, saying: ‘Let us go, and serve foreign gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,

²Thus says the Lord: “Do not choose to learn according to the ways of the Gentiles. And do not be willing to dread the signs of heaven, which the Gentiles fear. ³For the laws of the people are empty. For the work of the hand of the craftsman has cut a tree from the forest with an axe. ⁴He has adorned it with silver and gold. He has put it together with nail and hammer, so that it will not fall apart. ⁵They have been fabricated in the likeness of a palm tree, and they will not speak. They must be carried to be moved, because they do not have the ability to walk. Therefore, do not be willing to fear them, for they can do neither evil nor good.”

¹Then the people, seeing that Moses made a delay in descending from the mountain, gathered together against Aaron, and said: “Rise up, make us gods, who may go before us. But as for this man Moses, who led us away from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has befallen him.” ²And Aaron said to them, “Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me.” ³And the people did what he had commanded, carrying the earrings to Aaron. ⁴And when he had received them, he formed these by the work of a casting furnace, and he made from these a molten calf. And they said: “These are your gods, O Israel, who led you away from the land of Egypt.” ⁵And when Aaron had seen it, he built an altar before it, and he cried out with a voice of proclamation, saying, “Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Lord.” ⁶And rising up in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play.