Yesaya 40:18-20

40:18 To whom can you compare God?

To what image can you liken him?

40:19 A craftsman casts ¹  an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

40:20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; ² 

he then seeks a skilled craftsman

to make ³  an idol that will not fall over.

Yesaya 44:9-20

44:9 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.

44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol

that will prove worthless? ⁴ 

44:11 Look, all his associates ⁵  will be put to shame;

the craftsmen are mere humans. ⁶ 

Let them all assemble and take their stand!

They will panic and be put to shame.

44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool ⁷ 

and forges metal over the coals.

He forms it ⁸  with hammers;

he makes it with his strong arm.

He gets hungry and loses his energy; ⁹ 

he drinks no water and gets tired.

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ¹⁰ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ¹¹ 

he scrapes ¹²  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ¹³ 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ¹⁴ 

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ¹⁵  or an oak.

He gets ¹⁶  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ¹⁷  and the rain makes it grow.

44:15 A man uses it to make a fire; ¹⁸ 

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. ¹⁹ 

44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –

over that half he cooks ²⁰  meat;

he roasts a meal and fills himself.

Yes, he warms himself and says,

‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’

44:17 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!’

44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,

for their eyes are blind and cannot see;

their minds do not discern. ²¹ 

44:19 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?’ ²² 

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ²³ 

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?’ ²⁴ 

Yesaya 46:6-7

46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse

and weigh out silver on the scale ²⁵ 

hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.

They then bow down and worship it.

46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;

they put it in its place and it just stands there;

it does not ²⁶  move from its place.

Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;

it does not deliver him from his distress.

[40:19]  ¹ tn Heb “pours out”; KJV “melteth.”

[40:20]  ² tn The first two words of the verse (הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה, hamsukan tÿrumah) are problematic. Some take מְסֻכָּן as an otherwise unattested Pual participle from סָכַן (sakhan, “be poor”) and translate “the one who is impoverished.” תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah, “contribution”) can then be taken as an adverbial accusative, “with respect to a contribution,” and the entire line translated, “the one who is too impoverished for such a contribution [i.e., the metal idol of v. 19?] selects wood that will not rot.” However, מְסֻכָּן is probably the name of a tree used in idol manufacturing (cognate with Akkadian musukkanu, cf. H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 133). מְסֻכָּן may be a scribal interpretive addition attempting to specify עֵץ (’ets) or עֵץ may be a scribal attempt to categorize מְסֻכָּן. How an idol constitutes a תְּרוּמָה (“contribution”) is not entirely clear.

[40:20]  ³ tn Or “set up” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “to prepare.”

[44:10]  ⁴ tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”

[44:11]  ⁵ 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.

[44:11]  ⁶ 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.”

[44:12]  ⁷ tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.

[44:12]  ⁸ 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.

[44:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”

[44:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ¹¹ 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.”

[44:13]  ¹² tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

[44:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”

[44:14]  ¹⁵ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ¹⁷ tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “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.”

[44:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”

[44:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps, “them.”

[44:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”

[44:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

[44:19]  ²² tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.

[44:20]  ²³ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[46:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.

[46:7]  ²⁶ tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.