^12 (A)The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.

¹⁷ And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. ^(A)He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

¹⁸ They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹ No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an ^(B)abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” ^20 (C)He feeds on ^(D)ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not ^(E)a lie in my right hand?”