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1But you, our God, are kind and true—
a patient and merciful ruler over all things.
2Even if we sin, we are still yours and acknowledge your power.
But we will not sin, because we know that you acknowledge us as your own.
3For perfect righteousness comes from knowing you,
and knowledge of your power is the root of immortality.
4The evil intent of human art has not deceived us,
nor has the fruitless work of painters—
a statue stained with various colors.
5The appearance of such works excites fools
and causes them to desire the lifeless form of a dead image.
6Those who make or desire or worship such idols
love evil things and deserve no better hope
than that offered by the idols.
7The potter works the soft clay
and laboriously shapes each piece of pottery for our use.
From the same clay he makes some pots for clean uses
and some for unclean uses.
They are all made alike,
and the potter decides how each will be used.
8He then wastes his time by making a useless god from the same clay,
though he himself, only a short time before, was also made from earth.
After a little while he will return to the earth from which he came,
when he is asked to return the life that was lent to him.
9But he is not concerned that he will die one day or that his life is short.
Instead, he competes with the goldsmiths and silversmiths and imitates the bronzeworkers.
He takes pride in fashioning counterfeit gods.
10His heart is ashes, his hope is worth less than dirt,
and his life is of less value than clay.
11For he did not know the One who formed him,
who infused him with an active soul
and breathed into him a living spirit.
12He considered our existence to be a meaningless game
and life merely a festival for making profit.
He says people must make money however they can—even by evil means.
13Yet this man, above all others, knows that he sins
when he makes fragile pots and carved images from earthly clay.
14But those who are most foolish and more miserable than infants
are the enemies who oppress your people.
15They thought all their pagan idols were gods,
though these idols have no eyes for seeing,
nor noses for breathing,
nor ears for hearing,
nor fingers for grasping.
Even their feet are useless for walking.
16They were made by a human being;
they were formed by someone whose own life is borrowed.
People cannot make true gods that are like themselves,
17for people are mortal and can form only dead things with their wicked hands.
They are better than the objects they worship,
for they, at least, are alive; the idols will never live.
18These people worship even the most detestable creatures,
which are worse than all others because they lack intelligence.
19In comparison to other animals, they are not beautiful or desirable.
They were excluded both from the praise and blessing of God.