the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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King James Version
Psalms 115:4
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Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man's hands.
Their idols are made of silver and gold, the work of human hands.
Their idols are made of silver and gold— they are man-made.
Their idols [are] silver and gold; the work of men's hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
The idols [of the nations] are silver and gold, The work of man's hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
The symulacris of hethene men ben siluer and gold; the werkis of mennus hondis.
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
The idols of the nations are made of silver and gold.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
Their images are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Their idols are mere silver and gold, made by human hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands:
The "gods" of those nations are only statues that some human made from gold and silver.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Their idoles are siluer and gold: the worke of mens hands.
Their gods are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
Their idoles are siluer and golde, euen the worke of mens hands.
The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the work of mens hands.
Their gods are made of silver and gold, formed by human hands.
Their idols, are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men, -
(113-12) The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
Their idols are siluer and gold: euen the workes of mens handes.
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men’s hands.
Their idols are silver and gold,made by human hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands;
Their idols [are] silver and gold, work of man's hands,
Their ymages are but syluer and golde, euen the worke of mens hodes.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of human hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man's hands.
Their idols are silver and gold,The work of man's hands.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Their idols: They are metal, stone, and wood; and though generally made in the form of man, they can neither see, hear, smell, feel, walk, nor speak! Even the wiser heathen made them the objects of their jests. Psalms 97:7, Psalms 135:15-17, Deuteronomy 4:28, Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 40:20, Isaiah 42:17, Isaiah 46:1, Isaiah 46:2, Isaiah 46:6, Isaiah 46:7, Jeremiah 10:3-5, Hosea 8:6, Habakkuk 2:18-20, Acts 19:26, Acts 19:35, 1 Corinthians 10:19, 1 Corinthians 10:20
Reciprocal: Exodus 20:4 - General Leviticus 26:1 - Ye shall Judges 6:31 - if he be Judges 17:3 - a graven image 1 Samuel 5:5 - neither 1 Samuel 12:21 - cannot profit 1 Kings 14:9 - thou hast gone 1 Kings 16:7 - with the work 1 Kings 18:26 - no voice 2 Kings 17:29 - made gods 2 Kings 19:18 - for they were 2 Kings 22:17 - the works 1 Chronicles 16:26 - all the gods 2 Chronicles 25:15 - which could Psalms 106:28 - of the dead Isaiah 2:8 - worship Isaiah 37:19 - no gods Isaiah 41:29 - they are all Jeremiah 2:11 - no gods Jeremiah 2:13 - broken cisterns Jeremiah 2:27 - to a stock Jeremiah 10:4 - deck Jeremiah 10:9 - are all Jeremiah 10:14 - and Jeremiah 16:20 - General Daniel 3:1 - made Daniel 5:4 - of gold Daniel 5:23 - which Hosea 13:2 - have made Acts 17:29 - we ought 1 Corinthians 8:4 - we know Galatians 4:8 - ye did Ephesians 4:18 - the understanding 1 Thessalonians 3:12 - the Lord Revelation 9:20 - and idols
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Their idols are silver and gold,.... The idols of the Gentiles; so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions. The gods they serve and worship are not in the heavens; but the matter of which they are made is dug out of the earth: and this is the greatest excellency and value that there is in them; and such as are made of these are of the greatest worth, and yet only for the matter of them, otherwise useless and inanimate statues; such are the idols of the Papists, Revelation 9:20.
The work of men's hands; the matter of them is gold and silver, which they owe to the earth as their original; the form of them they owe to men, and therefore can not be God, Hosea 8:6. If it is idolatry to worship what God has made, the sun, moon, and stars, it must be gross idolatry, and great stupidity, to worship what man has made: if it is sinful to worship the creature besides the Creator, or more than him, it must be still more so to worship the creature of a creature.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Their idols - Their gods - the gods which they worship, as contrasted with the God whom we adore. The design of this description Psalms 115:4-8 is to show the utter vanity of trusting in such gods, and to lead the people of Israel to put their trust in the true God - in Yahweh.
Are silver and gold - Made of silver and gold, and they must have, therefore, the properties of silver and gold. They can be of value only as silver and gold. They cannot do the work of mind; they cannot do the work of God. The psalmist was not disposed to depreciate the real value of these idols, or to throw contempt on them which they did not deserve. He was disposed to treat them fairly. They were silver and gold; they had an intrinsic value as such; they showed in the value of the material how much the pagan were disposed to honor their objects of worship; and they were not held up to contempt as shapeless blocks of wood or stone. The psalmist might have said that most of them were made of wood or stone, and were mere shapeless blocks; but it is always best to do justice to an adversary, and not to attempt to underrate what he values. The argument of an infidel on the subject of religion may be utterly worthless as an argument for infidelity, but it may evince ability, learning, subtilty, clearness of reasoning, and even candor; and it is best to admit this, if it is so, and to give to it all the credit which it deserves as a specimen of reasoning, or as stating a real difficulty which ought to be solved by somebody - to call it “silver and gold” if it is so, and not to characterize it as worthless, weak, stupid - the result of ignorance and folly. He has great advantage in an argument who owns the real force of what an opponent says; he gains nothing who charges it as the offspring of stupidity, ignorance, and folly - unless he can show that it is so.
The work of men’s hands - Shaped and fashioned by people’s hands. They cannot, therefore, be superior to those who made them; they cannot answer the purpose of a God.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 115:4. Their idols are silver, c. — They are metal, stone, and wood. They are generally made in the form of man, but can neither see, hear, smell, feel, walk, nor speak. How brutish to trust in such! And next to these, in stupidity and inanity, must they be who form them, with the expectation of deriving any good from them. So obviously vain was the whole system of idolatry, that the more serious heathens ridiculed it, and it was a butt for the jests of their freethinkers and buffoons. How keen are those words of Juvenal!
----------------------Audis
Jupiter, haec? nec labra moves, cum mittere vocem.
Debueras, vel marmoreus vel aheneus? aut cur
In carbone tuo charta pia thura soluta
Ponimus, et sectum vituli jecur, albaque porci
Omenta? ut video, nullum discrimen habendum est.
Effigies inter vestras, statuamque Bathylli.
SAT. xiii., ver. 113.
"Dost thou hear, O Jupiter, these things? nor move thy lips when thou oughtest to speak out, whether thou art of marble or of bronze? Or, why do we put the sacred incense on thy altar from the opened paper, and the extracted liver of a calf, and the white caul of a hog? As far as I can discern there is no difference between thy statue and that of Bathyllus."
This irony will appear the keener, when it is known that Bathyllus was a fiddler and player, whose image by the order of Polycrates, was erected in the temple of Juno at Samos. See Isaiah 41:1. c. Isaiah 46:7; Jeremiah 10:4-5, c. and Psalms 135:15; Psalms 135:16.
