Isaiah 44:9-20
Lexham English Bible
Idolatry Is Ridiculous
9 All those who form an idol are nothing,
and their delightful things do not profit.
And their witnesses do not see or know,
so they will be ashamed.
10 Who would form a god
and cast an image of which he cannot profit?
11 Look! all his companions shall be ashamed,
and the artisans are human!
Let all of them assemble;
let them stand up.
They shall tremble;[a]
they shall be ashamed together.
12 The ironsmith[b] works in the coals with his tool
and forms it with hammers.
And he makes it with his strong arm;[c]
indeed, he becomes hungry, and he lacks[d] strength;
he does not drink water, and he is faint.
13 The woodworker[e] stretches out a line;
he makes an outline of it with a marker.
He makes it with a knife
and makes an outline of it with a compass.
He makes it like the image of a man,
like the beauty of a human, to dwell in a temple.[f]
14 Cutting down cedars for himself,
he chooses[g] a holm tree and an oak,
and he lets it grow strong for him among the trees of the forest.
He plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow.
15 And it becomes fuel for a human,[h]
and he takes some of it and grows warm;
also, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
Also, he makes a god and bows in worship;
he makes himself an image and bows down to it!
16 He burns half of it in the fire;
he eats meat over half of it;
he roasts a roast and is satisfied.
Also he grows warm and says, “Ah!
I am warm! I see the fire!”
17 And he makes the remainder of it into a god!
He bows down to his idol,
and he bows in worship and prays to him,
and he says, “Save me, for you are my god!”
18 They do not know,
and they do not understand,
for their eyes are besmeared so that they cannot see,[i]
their minds[j] so that they have no insight.[k]
19 And no one takes it to heart,[l] and there is no knowledge
and no understanding to say, “I burned half of it in the fire
and also I baked bread on its coals;
I roasted meat, and I have eaten.
And I shall make the rest of it into an abomination!
I shall bow down to a block of wood!”
20 He feeds on ashes; a deceived mind[m] misleads him.
And he cannot save himself,[n] and he cannot say,
“Is this not an illusion in my right hand?”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 44:11 Or “be startled”
- Isaiah 44:12 Literally “craftsman of iron”
- Isaiah 44:12 Literally “the arm of his strength”
- Isaiah 44:12 Literally “there is no”
- Isaiah 44:13 Literally “craftsman of wood”
- Isaiah 44:13 Or “house”
- Isaiah 44:14 Literally “takes”
- Isaiah 44:15 Literally “will become for a man as burning”
- Isaiah 44:18 Literally “from seeing”
- Isaiah 44:18 Literally “hearts”
- Isaiah 44:18 Literally “from having insight”
- Isaiah 44:19 Literally “he does not bring back to his heart”
- Isaiah 44:20 Literally “heart deceived”
- Isaiah 44:20 Literally “his soul”
Isaiah 44:9-20
New English Translation
9 All who form idols are nothing;
the things in which they delight are worthless.
Their witnesses cannot see;
they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.
10 Who forms a god and casts an idol
that will prove worthless?[a]
11 Look, all his associates[b] will be put to shame;
the craftsmen are mere humans.[c]
Let them all assemble and take their stand.
They will panic and be put to shame.
12 A blacksmith works with his tool[d]
and forges metal over the coals.
He forms it[e] with hammers;
he makes it with his strong arm.
He gets hungry and loses his energy;[f]
he drinks no water and gets tired.
13 A carpenter takes measurements;[g]
he marks out an outline of its form;[h]
he scrapes[i] it with chisels,
and marks it with a compass.
He patterns it after the human form,[j]
like a well-built human being,
and puts it in a shrine.[k]
14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress[l] or an oak.
He gets[m] trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar[n] and the rain makes it grow.
15 A man uses it to make a fire;[o]
he takes some of it and warms himself.
Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
Then he makes a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.[p]
16 Half of it he burns in the fire—
over that half he cooks[q] meat;
he roasts a meal and fills himself.
Yes, he warms himself and says,
‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’
17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships it.
He prays to it, saying,
‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’
18 They do not comprehend or understand,
for their eyes are blind and cannot see;
their minds do not discern.[r]
19 No one thinks to himself,
nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:
‘I burned half of it in the fire—
yes, I baked bread over the coals;
I roasted meat and ate it.
With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?
Should I bow down to dry wood?’[s]
20 He feeds on ashes;[t]
his deceived mind misleads him.
He cannot rescue himself,
nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’[u]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 44:10 tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”
- Isaiah 44:11 tn The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.
- Isaiah 44:11 sn The point seems to be this: if the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”
- Isaiah 44:12 tn The noun מַעֲצָד (maʿatsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.
- Isaiah 44:12 tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
- Isaiah 44:12 tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”
- Isaiah 44:14 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
- Isaiah 44:14 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
- Isaiah 44:14 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (ʾoren) to אֶרֶז (ʾerez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
- Isaiah 44:15 tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”
- Isaiah 44:15 tn Or perhaps, “them.”
- Isaiah 44:16 tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”
- Isaiah 44:18 tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”
- Isaiah 44:19 tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.
- Isaiah 44:20 tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”
- Isaiah 44:20 tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”
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