Isaiah 44:13-20

New American Standard Bible

^13 (A)The craftsman of wood extends a measuring line; he outlines it with a marker. He works it with carving knives and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of ^(B)mankind, so that it may sit in a ^(C)house. ¹⁴ He will cut cedars for himself, and he takes a holm-oak or another oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel tree, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ Then it becomes something for a person to burn, so he takes one of them and gets warm; he also makes a fire and bakes bread. He also ^(D)makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and ^(E)bows down before it. ¹⁶ Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat, he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” ¹⁷ Yet the rest of it he ^(F)makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down before it and worships; he also ^(G)prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

¹⁸ They do not ^(H)know, nor do they understand, for He has ^(I)smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. ¹⁹ No one ^[a]remembers, nor is there ^(J)knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then ^[b]I make the rest of it into an ^(K)abomination, ^[c]I bow down before a block of wood!” ²⁰ He ^[d](L)feeds on ashes; a ^(M)deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save ^[e]himself, nor say, “^(N)Is there not a lie in my right hand?”