The Futility of Idolatry

⁹ Those who form ^[a]a graven image are all of them ^[b]futile, and their desirable things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be ^(A)put to shame. ¹⁰ Who has formed a god or cast a graven image to ^(B)no profit? ¹¹ Behold, all his companions will be ^(C)put to shame. The craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them be in dread, let them together be put to shame.

¹² The ^(D)man crafts iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, ^[c]forming it with hammers and working it with his powerful arm. He also gets hungry and has no power; he drinks no water and becomes weary. ^13 (E)Another crafts wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with ^[d]a stylus. He makes it with planes and outlines it with a compass and makes it like the form of a man, like the glory of ^(F)man, so that it may sit in a ^(G)house. ¹⁴ In order to cut cedars for himself, he takes a ^[e]cypress or an oak and ^[f]raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. ¹⁵ Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also ^(H)works to produce a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and ^(I)falls down before it. ¹⁶ Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm; I have seen the fire.” ¹⁷ But the rest of it he ^(J)makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also ^(K)prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”

¹⁸ They do not ^(L)know, nor do they understand, for He has ^(M)smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they will have no insight. ¹⁹ No one causes this to return to his heart, nor is there ^(N)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 ^[g]I make the rest of it into an ^(O)abomination; ^[h]I fall down before a block of wood!” ²⁰ He ^[i](P)feeds on ashes; a ^(Q)deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver his soul, and he cannot say, “^(R)Is there not a lie in my right hand?”