What Does “Idol” Mean in the Bible?
An image that is worshiped as if it were a god. Worshiping something in place of God is called idolatry.
Where it appears in the Bible
Exodus 20:3-5
What the Bible says
Exodus 20:3-5
3Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. 5Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Catechism 2112-2113