⁹ All who make idols^(A) are nothing,
    and the things they treasure are worthless.^(B)
Those who would speak up for them are blind;^(C)
    they are ignorant, to their own shame.^(D)
10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol,^(E)
    which can profit nothing?^(F)

¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
    over it he prepares his meal,
    he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
    “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.^(A)”
¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
    he bows down to it and worships.^(B)
He prays^(C) to it and says,
    “Save^(D) me! You are my god!”
¹⁸ They know nothing, they understand^(E) nothing;
    their eyes^(F) are plastered over so they cannot see,
    and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
¹⁹ No one stops to think,
    no one has the knowledge or understanding^(G) to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;^(H)
    I even baked bread over its coals,
    I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable^(I) thing from what is left?
    Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”^(J)
20 Such a person feeds on ashes;^(K) a deluded^(L) heart misleads him;
    he cannot save himself, or say,
    “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?^(M)”

⁸ The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;^(A)
    the leaders^(B) rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,^(C)
    following worthless idols.^(D)

¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods?
    (Yet they are not gods^(A) at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious^(B) God
    for worthless idols.

“Do not learn the ways of the nations^(A)
    or be terrified by signs^(B) in the heavens,
    though the nations are terrified by them.
³ For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman^(C) shapes it with his chisel.^(D)
4 They adorn it with silver^(E) and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.^(F)
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;^(G)
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.^(H)
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm^(I)
    nor can they do any good.”^(J)

²² Do any of the worthless idols^(A) of the nations bring rain?^(B)
    Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is you, Lord our God.
    Therefore our hope is in you,
    for you are the one who does all this.^(C)

¹⁹ Lord, my strength and my fortress,
    my refuge^(A) in time of distress,
to you the nations will come^(B)
    from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,^(C)
    worthless idols^(D) that did them no good.^(E)

¹⁴ They do not cry out to me from their hearts^(A)
    but wail on their beds.
They slash themselves,^[a] appealing to their gods
    for grain and new wine,^(B)
    but they turn away from me.^(C)