The Foolishness of Nature Worship

13For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;
and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,
nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works;
²but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air,
or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water,
or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.
³If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods,
let them know how much better than these is their Lord,
for the author of beauty created them.
⁴And if people^* were amazed at their power and working,
let them perceive from them
how much more powerful is the one who formed them.
⁵For from the greatness and beauty of created things
comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.
⁶Yet these people are little to be blamed,
for perhaps they go astray
while seeking God and desiring to find him.
⁷For while they live among his works, they keep searching,
and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful.
⁸Yet again, not even they are to be excused;
⁹for if they had the power to know so much
that they could investigate the world,
how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?