Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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The True God Gives Immortality
1 But you, our God, are kind
and true and patient. You rule
the universe with mercy.
2 Even if
we sin, we know your power and are
still yours. But because we know
that we belong to you, we will not
sin.
3 Knowing you is perfect righteousness.
Recognizing your power is
where immortality begins.
4 We
have not been misled by any evil
product of human skill, by any useless
object painted by some artist, or
by any idol smeared with different
colors.
5 The sight of such things
arouses the passions of foolish people
and makes them desire a dead,
lifeless image.
6 Anyone who makes
such a thing or desires it or worships
it is in love with something evil, and
gets what he deserves when he
places his hopes in it.
The Foolishness of Worshiping Clay Idols
7 A potter works the soft clay and
carefully shapes each object for our
use. Some things he makes are put
-- --
to good use, and some are not, but
he makes them all from the same
clay, and shapes them in the same
manner. The potter himself decides
which objects shall be used for what
purposes.
8 He is a human being who
was himself formed from earth only
a short while earlier, and after a little
while, when he must return the
soul that was lent to him, he will go
back to the same earth. He is a human
being, but he wastes his labor
shaping a useless god out of the
same clay that he uses to make pots.
9 His life will be short, and he will
soon have to die, but he is not concerned
about that. He wants to compete
with those who work in gold,
silver, and bronze, and make things
like they do. He takes great pride in
the things he makes, but they are
counterfeit.
10 His heart is made of
ashes. His hope is cheaper than dirt.
His life is not worth as much as his
clay,
11 because he never came to
know the God who shaped him, who
breathed into him an active soul and
a living spirit.
12 He thinks of human
life as just a game, a market where
he can make a profit. He believes
that he must make money however
he can, even by evil ways.
13 This
man, who makes idols and fragile
pots from the same clay, knows better
than anyone else that he is sinning.
The Punishment of the Egyptians
14 But the most foolish of all people,
showing less sense than babies,
were the enemies who oppressed
your people, O Lord.
15 They thought
that all their pagan idols were gods,
even though idols cannot see with
their eyes, cannot breathe through
their nose, cannot hear with their
ears, cannot feel with their fingers,
and cannot walk on their legs.
16 Some man whose spirit is only
borrowed made them. No one can
ever make a god that is equal to a
human being.
17 Every person will
sooner or later die, but anything he
makes with his wicked hands is
dead from the start. He himself is
better than what he worships. He at
least is alive, but what he worships
is not, and never has been.
18 Such
people worship the most disgusting
animals, including even the least intelligent
ones.
19 Even as animals
they are not attractive enough to
make anyone want them. God himself
passed them by when he put his
approval and blessing on the rest
of creation.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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