Psalms 135:16

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

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

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

BSB

They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

KJV

They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;

ASV

They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not;

BBE

They have mouths, but no voice, they have eyes, but they do not see;

Original Hebrew

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The early church

But as these things are senseless, why make ye men of silver and gold to be gods? See ye not that the gods which you make see not? "They have a mouth, and will not speak; they have eyes, and will not see" [Psalm 135:16].
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 15–21

These verses arm believers against idolatry and all false worship, by showing what sort of gods the heathen worshipped. And the more deplorable the condition of the Gentile nations that worship idols, the more are we to be thankful that we know better. Let us pity, and pray for, and seek to benefit benighted heathens and deluded sinners. Let us endeavour to glorify his name, and recommend his truth, not only with our lips, but by holy lives, copying the example of Christ's goodness and truth.

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Spurgeon · Verse 16

They have mouths. For their makers fashioned them like themselves. An opening is made where the mouth should be, and yet it is no mouth, for they eat not, they speak not. They cannot communicate with their worshippers; they are dumb as death. If they cannot even speak, they are not even so worthy of worship as our children at school. Jehovah speaks, and it is done: but these images utter never a word. Surely, if they could speak, they would rebuke their votaries. Is not their silence a still more powerful rebuke? When our philosophical teachers deny that God has made any verbal revelation of himself they also confess that their god is dumb. Eyes have they, but they see not. Who would adore a blind man —how can the heathen be so mad as to bow themselves before a blind image? The eyes of idols have frequently been very costly; diamonds have been used for that purpose; but of what avail is the expense, since they see nothing? If they cannot even see us, how can they know our wants, appreciate our sacrifices, or spy out for us the means of help! What a wretched thing, that a man who can see should bow down before an image which is blind! The worshipper is certainly physically in advance of his god, and yet mentally he is on a level with it; for assuredly his foolish heart is darkened, or he would not so absurdly play the feel.

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Cross-references

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Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.