Read & explore together
Mortal craftsmen make images that cannot save themselves
This passage argues that crafted images are not gods. It points to their human makers, their weakness in danger, and their ordinary materials to show why they cannot deserve trust.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
In these verses from the Catholic additional book of Baruch, the speaker explains what these images are and are not. They are made by carpenters and goldsmiths, their makers do not last, priests try to hide with them in crisis, and the images are described as wood covered with precious metals.
Baruch 6:45–52Main takeaway
The passage teaches that images made by mortal human hands and unable to save themselves are not gods.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Made by human handsThe first point is simple: these images are made by carpenters and goldsmiths. Because of that, they can only be what their makers shape them to be.
Explanation
The first point is simple: these images are made by carpenters and goldsmiths. Because of that, they can only be what their makers shape them to be. The passage begins by defining their origin, and their origin shows their limit.
02Their makers do not lastThe argument then turns to the people who made them. The makers cannot continue long, so the passage asks how what they made should continue as though it were divine.
Explanation
The argument then turns to the people who made them. The makers cannot continue long, so the passage asks how what they made should continue as though it were divine. It adds that they leave behind lies and reproaches for later people.
03They cannot save themselvesNext, the passage describes trouble coming through war or plague. In that crisis, the priests consult about where they may be hidden with them.
Explanation
Next, the passage describes trouble coming through war or plague. In that crisis, the priests consult about where they may be hidden with them. The question follows sharply: if these things cannot save themselves from danger, why would anyone treat them as gods?
04Wood covered with metalThe closing verses describe the images as wood overlaid with gold and silver. Their appearance may look impressive, yet the passage says they are false, works of human hands, and not a work of God.
Explanation
The closing verses describe the images as wood overlaid with gold and silver. Their appearance may look impressive, yet the passage says they are false, works of human hands, and not a work of God. It ends by asking who would fail to recognise this.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What does the passage say these images can and cannot be?
Look at who made them and the statement that they can be nothing else than what the workmen make.
02How does the mortality of the makers strengthen the argument?
Notice the link between the makers not continuing long and the question about what they fashioned.
03Why do war, plague, and the materials of the images matter in this passage?
Follow the reasoning from needing to hide in danger to the description of wood overlaid with gold and silver.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Baruch 6:45–52
45They are fashioned by carpenters and goldsmiths. They can be nothing else than what the workmen make them to be.
46And they themselves who fashioned them can never continue long. How then should the things that are fashioned by them?
47For they have left lies and reproaches to those who come after.
48For when there comes any war or plague upon them, the priests consult with themselves, where they may be hidden with them.
49How then can’t men understand that they are no gods, which can’t save themselves from war or from plague?
50For seeing they are only wood and overlaid with gold and silver, it will be known hereafter that they are false.
51It will be manifest to all nations and kings that they are no gods, but the works of men’s hands, and that there is no work of God in them.
52Who then may not know that they are not gods?