Jeremiah 16:20

Although Hermes calls these idols gods, he nevertheless admits that they were made by people whose example we should not follow, and thus, willy-nilly, he proves that these idols should not be worshiped by people who are unlike the people who made them, that is, by wise, believing and religious people. Moreover, he implies that the fabricators brought on themselves the guilt of reckoning as gods things that are not gods. Very true is that prophecy: "Shall a person make gods to himself, and they are not gods?" This, then, is what Hermes means by fabricated gods. Such gods, made and adored by such people, are but evil spirits imprisoned by magic in idols and bound there by the chains of their own passions.

Hermes Trismegistus lamented these vain, deceptive, pernicious, sacrilegious things because he foresaw that the time was coming when they would be abolished. He was as impudent in his grief as imprudent in his prophecy, since the Holy Spirit had made no revelation to him as to the holy prophets who exultantly proclaimed their inspired visions: "Shall a person make gods to himself, and they are not gods?" And again: "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more." It is relevant to recall that holy Isaiah uttered a particular prophecy concerning Egypt: "And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof" and the rest.

(Verse 20) To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: Truly, our fathers have possessed a lie, vanity that has not profited them. Septuagint: To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and say: How have our fathers possessed false idols, and there is no profit in them? After Israel was expelled and carried away by fishermen and hunters, a multitude of nations is subsequently called to faith and confesses that their fathers were involved in prior error. But those who say, 'How did our fathers possess false idols, in which there is no utility?' confess that the things they pass by are true, and supported by every defense. Does a man make gods for himself when they are not gods themselves? And this is what the nations, who came to the Savior from the ends of the earth, speak, or rather are called, as they expose both their own ignorance and that of their ancestors, because they thought that gods were made by man, when it is actually men who make gods.