8. But still, these people really have no excuse.
9. If they had enough intelligence to speculate about the nature of the universe, why did they never find the Lord of all things?
10. But the most miserable people of all are those who rest their hopes on lifeless things, who worship things that have been made by human hands — images of animals artistically made from gold and silver, or some useless stone carved by someone long ago.
11. A skilled woodworker may saw down some suitable tree, carefully strip off the bark, and then, with skilful craftsmanship, make from it an object that will serve some useful purpose.
12. He will take the pieces left over and use them as firewood to cook a meal that he can sit down to and enjoy.
13. But out of that scrap wood he may take one piece that isn't good for anything — maybe it's crooked and full of knots — and carefully carve it in his leisure time, using spare moments to shape it into the crude image of a person,