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Psalm 135:16

They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see.

14For the LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants.
15The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
16They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see.
18Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.
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← Psalm 135:15
Notice

The idols’ mouths and eyes make their helplessness stark: human hands can give them a face, yet no speech or sight.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What does the contrast between the idols’ faces and their helplessness reveal about trusting them?

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How does YHWH’s compassion in verse 14 sharpen the description of these sightless idols?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

3 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Matthew 13:14–16In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way …Sight fails in both passages: the idols cannot see, while the people in Matthew see without perceiving.
Isaiah 6:10Eyes without sight link these passages, though Isaiah addresses a people’s understanding and the psalm exposes the limits of idols.
1 Corinthians 12:2You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.The psalm’s speechless mouths and Paul’s mute idols expose the silence of the objects people worship.
Where this verse fits

Sermon or Bible study notes. praise and worship.

What the Bible says about worship →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read verses 14–18 and note who acts and who cannot

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Encouragement

The idols described here cannot see their worshipers or speak to them; the surrounding verses name YHWH as the one who has compassion on his servants.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 135:16. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 135 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).