For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Parallel translations
- WEB For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens.
- BSB For all the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the LORD who 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 115:15Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.
- Isa 42:5Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
- Jer 10:11–12Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
- Ps 135:18They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.
- 1 Cor 8:4As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
- Jer 10:3–5For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
- Jer 10:14–15Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Isa 44:8–28Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
- Acts 19:26Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
- Ps 135:15The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Ps 115:3–8But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
- Isa 46:1–2Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
- Gen 1:1In the beginning God created the heaven 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.