Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.
- KJV They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
- NKJV Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.
- NASB Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.
- NLT And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Those who make and trust idols become as lifeless as them. It matters because we are shaped into the likeness of whatever we worship.
Overview
The psalm draws a sobering principle: worshipers grow to resemble their objects of trust, so idolaters become spiritually blind, deaf, and dead. This warns that idolatry is self-destructive, not merely mistaken. Conversely, those who behold the Lord are transformed into his image (2 Cor. 3:18), so that beholding Christ brings true life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 135:18Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
- Jer 10:8But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
- Hab 2:18–19What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Jonah 2:8Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.
- Isa 44:9–20All 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.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 115:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.