Christian Standard Bible
Psalms 115:4
4Their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.
Psalms 115:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- New International Version (NIV)But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men’s hands.
Context of Psalms 115:4
2Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. 5They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. 6They have ears but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell.
Read all of Psalms 115Psalms 115:4 word by word
עֲֽ֭צַבֵּיהֶם כֶּ֣סֶף וְזָהָ֑ב מַ֝עֲשֵׂ֗ה יְדֵ֣י אָדָֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 115:4
- Psalms 97:7All who serve carved images, those who boast in worthless idols, will be put to shame. All the gods must worship him.
- Psalms 135:15The idols of the nations are of silver and gold, made by human hands.
- Deuteronomy 4:28There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell.
- Isaiah 40:19An idol? — something that a smelter casts and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver chains for?
- Isaiah 42:17They will be turned back and utterly ashamed — those who trust in an idol and say to a cast image, ‘You are our gods! ’
- Isaiah 46:1Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Idols depicting them are consigned to beasts and cattle. The images you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary animal.
- Jeremiah 10:3for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.
- Hosea 8:6For this thing is from Israel — a craftsman made it, and it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!
- Habakkuk 2:18What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes worthless idols that cannot speak.
- Acts 19:26You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.
- 1 Corinthians 10:19What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
Commentaries on Psalms 115:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Their idols are silver, etc. - 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…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Their idols - Their gods - the gods which they worship, as contrasted with the God whom we adore. The design of this description Psalm 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…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-11This entire section is repeated in Psalm 135:15–20. Unlike the Lord (Psalm 95:3–5), idols cannot do anything. They are useless.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 4-74-7. (Compare Is 40:18-20; 44:9-20).Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 115:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 115
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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