Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

但从前你们不认识神的时候，是给那些本来不是神的作奴仆；

但从前不认识上帝的时候，你们是给那些本来不是上帝的神明作奴隶；

但从前不认识神的时候，你们是给那些本来不是神的神明作奴隶；

从前，你们不认识上帝，做那些假神的奴隶。

从前你们不认识神的时候，是给那些本来不是神的作奴仆；

从前，你们不认识神的时候，固然给那些本性上不是神的做了奴仆，

但從前你們不認識神的時候，是給那些本來不是神的作奴僕；

但從前不認識上帝的時候，你們是給那些本來不是上帝的神明作奴隸；

但從前不認識神的時候，你們是給那些本來不是神的神明作奴隸；

從前，你們不認識上帝，做那些假神的奴隸。

從前你們不認識神的時候，是給那些本來不是神的作奴僕；

但從前你們不認識上帝的時候，是給那些本性不是神的做奴僕。

從前，你們不認識神的時候，固然給那些本性上不是神的做了奴僕，

昔爾不識上帝、役於本非神者、

昔爾不識上帝、非上帝反服事之、

昔爾不識天主、所事之神、本非天主、

然曩日爾未識天主、猶為偽神所奴；

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

At one time you didn’t know God. You were slaves to gods that are really not gods at all.

Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so called gods that do not even exist.

But in the past, since you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods.

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods.

But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.

Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods:

But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods.

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all.

However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.

not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that“ an idol has no real existence,” and that“ there is no God but one.”

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called“ the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.

For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes for ordination with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are not gods.

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says,“ Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!”And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says,“ Deliver me, for you are my god!”They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say,“ Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say,“ Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

And Joshua said to all the people,“ Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,‘ Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.

But Pharaoh said,“ Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.Thus shall you say to them:“ The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.

Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription:‘ To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.