For all the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the LORD who made the heavens.
Parallel translations
- WEB For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens.
- KJV For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
- NKJV For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.
- NASB For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens.
- NLT The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the Lord made the heavens!
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
All the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. The nations' gods are nothing, while the LORD is the true Creator.
Overview
The psalmist contrasts lifeless idols with the LORD who created the heavens. The 'gods' of the nations are powerless nothings, unable to make or save. Only the Creator God is worthy of worship, a truth the gospel proclaims as it turns people from idols to the living God through Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:9; Isaiah 44:9-20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 115:15May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
- Isa 42:5This 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:
- Jer 10:11–12Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”
- Ps 135:18Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
- 1 Cor 8:4So 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.
- Jer 10:3–5For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.
- Jer 10:14–15Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
- Isa 44:8–28Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I know not one.”
- Acts 19:26And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
- Ps 135:15The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Ps 115:3–8Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
- Isa 46:1–2Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
- Gen 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
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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 96:5 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.