3. Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods,let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these;for the original source of beauty fashioned them.
4. Or if they were struck by their might and energy,let them realize from these things how much more powerful is the one who made them.
5. For from the greatness and the beauty of created thingstheir original author, by analogy, is seen.
6. But yet, for these the blame is less;For they have gone astray perhaps,though they seek God and wish to find him.
7. For they search busily among his works,but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair.
8. But again, not even these are pardonable.
9. For if they so far succeeded in knowledgethat they could speculate about the world,how did they not more quickly find its Lord?
10. But wretched are they, and in dead things are their hopes,who termed gods things made by human hands:Gold and silver, the product of art, and images of beasts,or useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.
11. A carpenter may cut down a suitable treeand skillfully scrape off all its bark,And deftly plying his artproduce something fit for daily use,