^9 [a]Those who fashion idols are all nothing;
    their precious works are of no avail.
They are their witnesses:^[b]
    they see nothing, know nothing,
    and so they are put to shame.^(A)
10 Who would fashion a god or cast an idol,
    that is of no use?
¹¹ Look, all its company will be shamed;
    they are artisans, mere human beings!
They all assemble and stand there,
    only to cower in shame.
¹² The ironsmith fashions a likeness,
    he works it over the coals,
Shaping it with hammers,
    working it with his strong arm.
With hunger his strength wanes,
    without water, he grows faint.^(B)
13 The woodworker stretches a line,
    and marks out a shape with a stylus.
He shapes it with scraping tools,
    with a compass measures it off,
Making it the copy of a man,^[c]
    human display, enthroned in a shrine.
¹⁴ He goes out to cut down cedars,
    takes a holm tree or an oak.
He picks out for himself trees of the forest,
    plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.
¹⁵ It is used for fuel:
    with some of the wood he warms himself,
    makes a fire and bakes bread.
Yet he makes a god and worships it,
    turns it into an idol and adores it!
¹⁶ Half of it he burns in the fire,
    on its embers he roasts meat;
    he eats the roast and is full.
He warms himself and says, “Ah!
    I am warm! I see the flames!”
¹⁷ The rest of it he makes into a god,
    an image to worship and adore.
He prays to it and says,
    “Help me! You are my god!”
¹⁸ They do not know, do not understand;
    their eyes are too clouded to see,
    their minds, to perceive.
¹⁹ He does not think clearly;
    he lacks the wit and knowledge to say,
“Half the wood I burned in the fire,
    on its embers I baked bread,
    I roasted meat and ate.
Shall I turn the rest into an abomination?
    Shall I worship a block of wood?”
²⁰ He is chasing ashes!^[d]
A deluded mind has led him astray;
    He cannot save himself,
    does not say, “This thing in my right hand—is it not a fraud?”

Do not learn the ways of the nations,
    and have no fear of the signs in the heavens,^[a]
    even though the nations fear them.^(A)
3 For the carvings of the nations are nonentities,
    wood cut from the forest,
Fashioned by artisans with the adze,^(B)
4     adorned with silver and gold.
With nails and hammers they are fastened,
    so they do not fall.^(C)
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
    they cannot speak;
They must be carried about,
    for they cannot walk.
Do not fear them, they can do no harm,
    neither can they do good.^(D)
6 No one is like you, Lord,
    you are great,
    great and mighty is your name.^(E)
7 Who would not fear you,
    King of the nations,
    for it is your due!
Among all the wisest of the nations,
    and in all their domains,
    there is none like you.^(F)
8 One and all they are stupid and senseless,
    the instruction from nonentities—only wood!
⁹ Silver plates brought from Tarshish,
    and gold from Ophir,
The work of the artisan
    and the handiwork of the smelter,
Clothed with violet and purple—
    all of them the work of skilled workers.
¹⁰ The Lord is truly God,
    he is the living God, the eternal King,
Before whose anger the earth quakes,
    whose wrath the nations cannot endure.^(G)

¹² The one who made the earth by his power,
    established the world by his wisdom,
    and by his skill stretched out the heavens.^(I)
13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar,
    and he brings up clouds from the end of the earth,
Makes lightning flash in the rain,
    and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
¹⁴ Everyone is too stupid to know;
    every artisan is put to shame by his idol:
He has molded a fraud,
    without breath of life.^(J)
15 They are nothing, objects of ridicule;
    they will perish in their time of punishment.
¹⁶ Jacob’s portion is nothing like them:
    for he is the maker of everything!
Israel is his very own tribe,
    Lord of hosts is his name.^(K)