Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 16:26
For all the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the LORD who made the heavens.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The verse occurs within a communal song of praise positioned between declarations of Yahweh's supreme greatness and descriptions of His majestic presence.
The words — אֱלִילִים ('e.li.Lim) carries the literal sense of "worthless idols," while עָשָֽׂה ('a.Sah) means "he made," forming a syntactic contrast between fabricated objects and divine action.
The thread — The creator-versus-idol contrast appears in Psalms 102:25, Isaiah 42:5, and Isaiah 44:24, where Yahweh alone is credited with founding the earth and stretching out the heavens.
Why it lands — The text asserts that foreign deities are non-existent constructs while Yahweh alone performed creation, requiring the reader to abandon all other claimed gods and recognize His exclusive authority.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
Cross-references
- Psalms 102:25 In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Isaiah 42:5 This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:
- Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,
- Leviticus 19:4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.
- Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
- Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 44:9 All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
- Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
- Acts 19:26 And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 So 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.