What does Scripture say about icons and images?

³ Thou shalt have no other gods beside me. ⁴ Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor likeness of anything, whatever things are in the heaven above, and whatever are in the earth beneath, and whatever are in the waters under the earth. ⁵ Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, recompensing the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation to them that hate me, ⁶ and bestowing mercy on them that love me to thousands [of them], and on them that keep my commandments.

¹⁵ And take good heed to your hearts, for ye saw no similitude in the day in which the Lord spoke to you in Choreb in the mountain out of the midst of the fire: ¹⁶ lest ye transgress, and make to yourselves a carved image, any kind of figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any beast of those that are on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird which flies under heaven, ¹⁸ the likeness of any reptile which creeps on the earth, the likeness of any fish of those which are in the waters under the earth; ¹⁹ and lest having looked up to the sky, and having seen the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the heavenly bodies, thou shouldest go astray and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God has distributed to all the nations under heaven.

⁸ Thou shalt not make to thyself an image, nor likeness of any thing, whatever things [are] in the heaven above, and whatever [are] in the earth beneath, and whatever [are] in the waters under the earth. ⁹ Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor shalt thou serve them; for I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation to them that hate me, ¹⁰ and doing mercifully to thousands of them that love me, and that keep my commandments.

⁹ But they that framed [false gods] did not then hearken; and they that graved [images] are all vain, performing their own desires, which shall not profit them, but they shall be ashamed ¹⁰ that form a god, and all that grave worthless things: ¹¹ and all by whom they were made are withered: yea, let all the deaf be gathered from [among] men, and let them stand together; and let them be ashamed and confounded together: ¹² For the artificer sharpens the iron; he fashions [the idol] with an axe, and fixes it with an awl, and fashions it with the strength of his arm: and he will be hungry and weak, and will drink no water. ¹³ The artificer having chosen a piece of wood, marks it out with a rule, and fits it with glue, and makes it as the form of a man, and as the beauty of a man, to set it up in the house. ¹⁴ He cuts wood out of the forest, which the Lord planted, [even] a pine tree, and the rain made it grow, ¹⁵ that it might be for men to burn: and having taken part of it he warms himself; yea, they burn part of it, and bake loaves thereon; and [of] the rest they make for themselves gods, and they worship them. ¹⁶ Half thereof he burns in the fire, and with half of it he bakes loaves on the coals; and having roasted flesh on it he eats, and is satisfied, and having warmed himself he says, I am comfortable, for I have warmed myself, and have seen the fire. ¹⁷ And the rest he makes a graven god, and worships, and prays, saying, Deliver me; for thou art my God. ¹⁸ They have no understanding to perceive; for they have been blinded so that they should not see with their eyes, nor perceive with their heart. ¹⁹ And one has not considered in his mind, nor known in his understanding, that he has burnt up half of it in the fire, and baked loaves on the coals thereof and has roasted and eaten flesh, and of the rest of it he has made an abomination, and they worship it. ²⁰ Know thou that their heart is ashes, and they err, and no one is able to deliver his soul: see, ye will not say, [There is] a lie in my right hand.

¹⁸ And thou shalt make two cherubs graven in gold, and thou shalt put them on both sides of the propitiatory. ¹⁹ They shall be made, one cherub on this side, and another cherub on the other side of the propitiatory; and thou shalt make the two cherubs on the two sides. ²⁰ The cherubs shall stretch forth their wings above, overshadowing the propitiatory with their wings; and their faces shall be toward each other, the faces of the cherubs shall be toward the propitiatory. ²¹ And thou shalt set the propitiatory on the ark above, and thou shalt put into the ark the testimonies which I shall give thee. ²² And I will make myself known to thee from thence, and I will speak to thee above the propitiatory between the two cherubs, which are upon the ark of testimony, even in all things which I shall charge thee concerning the children of Israel.

¹ And thou shalt make the tabernacle, ten curtains of fine linen spun, and blue and purple, and scarlet spun [with] cherubs; thou shalt make them with work of a weaver.

³¹ And thou shalt make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet woven, and fine linen spun: thou shalt make it cherubs [in] woven work.

²³ And he made in the oracle two cherubs of ten cubits measured size. ²⁴ And the wing of one cherub was five cubits, and his other wing was five cubits; ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing. ²⁵ Thus it was with the other cherub, both were alike finished with one measure. ²⁶ And the height of the one cherub [was] ten cubits, and so [was it] with the second cherub. ²⁷ And both the cherubs [were] in the midst of the innermost part of the house; and they spread out their wings, and one wing touched the wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings in the midst of the house touched each other. ²⁸ And he covered the cherubs with gold. ²⁹ He graved all the walls of the house round about with the graving of cherubs, and [he sculptured] palm trees within and without [the house].

¹⁷ And almost all the way to the inner, and close to the outer [side], and upon all the wall round about within and without, ¹⁸ were carved cherubs and palm-trees between the cherubs, [and each] cherub [had] two faces. ¹⁹ The face of a man was toward one palm-tree on this side and on that side, and the face of a lion toward another palm-tree on this side and on that side: the house was carved all round. ²⁰ From the floor to the ceiling were cherubs and palm-trees carved.

⁸ And Moses prayed to the Lord for the people; and the Lord said to Moses, Make thee a serpent, and put it on a signal-[staff]; and it shall come to pass that whenever a serpent shall bite a man, every one [so] bitten that looks upon it shall live. ⁹ And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a signal-[staff]: and it came to pass that whenever a serpent bit a man, and he looked on the brazen serpent, he lived.

⁴ He removed the high places, and broke in pieces the pillars, and utterly destroyed the groves, and the brazen serpent which Moses made: because until those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it: and he called it Neesthan.

¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

³ His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,

¹ That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life ² (and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us); ³ that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

⁷ And Abraam rose up and did obeisance to the people of the land, to the sons of Chet.

²³ Behold, Nathan the prophet [is here]: and he came in to the king's presence, and did obeisance to the king with his face to the ground.

⁶ And Joshua tore his garments; and Joshua fell on the earth on his face before the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they cast dust on their heads.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

⁸ Now I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who had shown me these things. ⁹ He said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”