Again, one about to make a voyage and to pass through the raging waves calls upon a piece of wood more frail than the vessel which carries him; for that which is made, and he that made it, shall both be punished, for it was not in the beginning, neither shall it endure forever, for it entered the world through men's love of vain glory, and therefore it is soon to be abolished.

For the ship was invented by the love of gain, and constructed by skillful wisdom; and by this means creation was hunted. For the calamity of some men, or the oppression of kings, enslaved them until they made stone and wood a name which none would dispute. For they practice sacrifices of their children, and secret rites, and orgies of madness after other fashions.

But your providence, O Father, guides it, for you are the one who opened a way in the sea and a safe path in the waves.

And you have shown that you are able to save from every danger, though one ride the sea, ignorant of its art.

And you love that the works of your wisdom should not be in vain, therefore men entrust themselves to a small piece of wood, and pass through the deep in a ship, and are saved.

And in the beginning also, when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world took refuge in a ship, and your hands guided it, so that it preserved for all time a seed to propagate.

For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.

But the idol made of wood is cursed, and he that made it. For this he made, and that, though it be corrupt, was called a god.

For God hates the hypocrite and his hypocrisy alike.

Therefore the idols of the nations shall also be visited, because they became an abomination in God's creation, and a stumbling-block to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the ignorant.

For the invention of idols is the origin of fornication, and the finding of them the corruption of life.

For a father, having been prematurely bereaved, made an image of his son who was swiftly taken away; and he began to worship that deceased man as a god, and commanded those under him to observe rites and sacrifices.

Then in course of time, that godless custom became established and was kept as a law, and by the commands of kings, carved images were worshipped.

And those whom people could not honor in their presence because of their distant dwelling, they portrayed their absent forms, and made an image of the honored king before their eyes, eager to flattered him in his absence as if he were present.

Then the love of artisans for display became a motive for the ignorant to exaggerate in this worship.

For they, out of a desire to please the ruler, exerted themselves in their craftsmanship to produce the image in utmost perfection.

So the multitude was enticed by the beauty of that artifact, such that what they had esteemed but little as a man a short while before, they now accounted a god.

Then they were not content with their error in knowing God, but plunged into the fierce war of ignorance, and they called such evils peace.

They regard neither good conduct nor the purity of marriage, but one slays his fellow by assassination, and defiles him by lewdness.

An evil escalating everywhere: blood, murder, theft, cunning, corruption, treachery, discord, perjury, and the disquiet of the righteous.

And ingratitude, and the defilement of souls, and the confusion of births, and the disturbance of marriage, and fornication, and harlotry.

For the worship of abominable idols is the cause of all evil, its beginning, and its end.

For if they rejoice, they behave madly; or if they prophesy, they lie; or if they deal, they do unjustly; or if they form covenants, they quickly commit perjury.

And because they trust in idols that have no life, they do not expect, if they swear falsely, to incur misfortune.

Therefore, there are two things by which they deserve the consequences of their wicked belief in God, in that they followed idols, and their oath with deceit and injustice, in that they made light of holiness.

For the transgression of the unrighteous is followed by judgment upon sinners, not by the power of those by whom they swear.