Scripture · Old Testament
Habakkuk 2:18
Habakkuk 2:18 is verse 18 of Habakkuk chapter 2, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.
Berean Standard Bible
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it— or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
King James Version
What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
World English Bible
“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
Read in context
Habakkuk 2:16–20 · Berean Standard Bible
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. You too must drink and expose your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace will cover your glory.
17 For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.
18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it— or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”
20 But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
Read all of Habakkuk 2Hebrew words
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Study Habakkuk 2:18
Cross-references
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.
Isaiah 37:38One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.
Isaiah 42:17But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.
Isaiah 44:9All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
Isaiah 44:10Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?
Isaiah 45:16They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.
Isaiah 45:20Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.
Isaiah 46:1Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
Isaiah 46:2The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.
Isaiah 46:6They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
Isaiah 46:7They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.
Isaiah 46:8Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!
Jeremiah 2:27say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble they beg, ‘Rise up and save us!’
Jeremiah 2:28But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.
Jeremiah 10:3For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.
Jeremiah 10:4They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
Jeremiah 10:5Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”
Jeremiah 50:2“Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’
Romans 6:21What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
Jeremiah 10:8But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
Jeremiah 10:14Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
Jeremiah 10:15They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
Jonah 2:8Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.
Zechariah 10:2For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
Romans 1:23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Romans 1:24Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
Romans 1:25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
2 Thessalonians 2:9The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,
2 Thessalonians 2:10and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
2 Thessalonians 2:11For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,
1 Timothy 4:1Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
1 Timothy 4:2influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.
Revelation 13:11Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. This beast had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon.
Revelation 13:12And this beast exercised all the authority of the first beast and caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.
Revelation 13:13And the second beast performed great signs to cause even fire from heaven to come down to earth in the presence of the people.
Revelation 13:14Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.
Revelation 13:15The second beast was permitted to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship it to be killed.
Revelation 19:20But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Psalms 115:4Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
Psalms 115:5They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;
Psalms 115:6they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell;
Psalms 115:7they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats.
Psalms 115:8Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
Psalms 135:15The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
Psalms 135:16They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;
Psalms 135:17they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths.
Psalms 135:18Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
Isaiah 1:31The strong man will become tinder and his work will be a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the flames.
Isaiah 44:14He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.
Isaiah 44:15It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread; he even fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.
Isaiah 44:16He burns half of it in the fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. Indeed, he warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”
Isaiah 44:17From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”
Isaiah 44:18They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
Isaiah 44:19And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
Isaiah 44:20He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
1 Corinthians 12:2You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.