Baruch 6:19–27

¹⁹They light candles for them, yes, more than for themselves, even though they can’t see one.↗

²⁰They are like one of the beams of the temple. Men say their hearts are eaten out when things creeping out of the earth devour both them and their clothing. They don’t feel it↗

²¹when their faces are blackened through the smoke that comes out of the temple.↗

²²Bats, swallows, and birds land on their bodies and heads. So do the cats.↗

²³By this you may know that they are no gods. Therefore don’t fear them.↗

²⁴Notwithstanding the gold with which they are covered to make them beautiful, unless someone wipes off the tarnish, they won’t shine; for they didn’t even feel it when they were molten.↗

²⁵Things in which there is no breath are bought at any cost.↗

²⁶Having no feet, they are carried upon shoulders. By this, they declare to men that they are worth nothing.↗

²⁷Those who serve them are also ashamed, for if they fall to the ground at any time, they can’t rise up again by themselves. If they are bowed down, they can’t make themselves straight; but the offerings are set before them, as if they were dead men.↗