What Does The Bible Say About Adoring Images? (35 Bible Verses)

The topic of adoring images is often a point of discussion among believers. The Bible provides clear guidance on the use of images in worship and the importance of directing our adoration towards God alone. Join us as we explore what Scripture says about adoring images and how we can align our practices with biblical teachings.

What Does The Bible Say About Adoring Images

Exodus 20:4-5 – Prohibition of Idol Worship

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…”

Deuteronomy 4:15-16 – Warning Against Idolatry

“Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman…”

Isaiah 42:8 – God Alone Deserves Worship

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

Matthew 4:10 – Worship God, Not Idols

“Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Acts 17:29 – We Should Not Think God is Like an Image

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.”

1 Corinthians 10:14 – Flee from Idolatry

“Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.”

1 Corinthians 12:2 – Do Not Be Led Astray by Idols

“You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.”

1 John 5:21 – Guard Yourselves from Idols

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Exodus 34:17 – Do Not Make Cast Idols

“Do not make any idols.”

Leviticus 26:1 – Do Not Make Idols or Images

“Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it.”

Joshua 23:7 – Do Not Serve or Worship Idols

“Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.”

Psalms 97:7 – Disgrace Comes to Idol Worshipers

“All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols— worship him, all you gods!”

Psalms 115:4-8 – Idols are Powerless

“But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

Isaiah 44:9-10 – Idols Cannot Save

“All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing?”

Isaiah 48:5 – God Forewarns His People About Idols

“Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened, I announced them to you so that you could not say, ‘My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.’

Jeremiah 10:14 – Idols are Worthless

“Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.”

Jeremiah 10:15 – Idols are Deceptive

“They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.”

Hosea 8:4 – Do Not Trust in Idols

“They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold, they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.”

Romans 1:21-25 – Idol Worship Leads to Corruption

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”

1 Corinthians 8:4-6 – There is Only One God

“So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

1 Corinthians 10:19-20 – Idol Worship is Demonic

“Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.”

1 Thessalonians 1:9 – Turn Away from Idols

“For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”

Colossians 3:5 – Put to Death the Practice of Idolatry

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

1 John 5:21 – Keep Yourselves from Idols

“Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Exodus 23:24 – Destroy the Idols

“Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.”

2 Kings 23:24 – Remove All the Idols

“Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD.”

Isaiah 2:18 – Cast Away the Idols

“Idols will totally disappear.”

Jeremiah 50:2 – Break the Idols

“Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say, ‘Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.’”

Habakkuk 2:18-19 – Woe to Idol Worshipers

“Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.”

Zephaniah 1:3 – Punishment for Worshiping Idols

“I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea—and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.”

Zechariah 13:2 – False Prophets and Unclean Spirits

“On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the LORD Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.”

Acts 19:26 – Idols are Not Gods

“And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.”

Romans 1:23 – The Creator is Superior to Idols

“And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

1 Corinthians 10:7-8 – Do Not Worship Idols Like the Israelites

“Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.’ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.”

1 Corinthians 12:2 – Do Not Be Influenced by Idols

“You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.”

1 Peter 4:3 – Forsake Idolatrous Practices

“For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.”

Revelation 2:14 – Repent from Idolatry

“Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.”

Revelation 9:20 – People Continue to Worship Idols

“The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.”

Revelation 14:9 – Warning Against Worshiping the Beast

“A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand…’”

Revelation 19:20 – Destruction of Idol Worshipers

“But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”

Revelation 22:8-9 – Worship God Alone

“I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, ‘Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!’”