Parallel Verses

NET Bible

What good is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? Why would its creator place his trust in it and make such mute, worthless things?

New American Standard Bible

“What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it,
Or an image, a teacher of falsehood?
For its maker trusts in his own handiwork
When he fashions speechless idols.

King James Version

What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Holman Bible

What use is a carved idol
after its craftsman carves it?
It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies.
For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it
and makes idols that cannot speak.

International Standard Version

"Where is the benefit in owning a carved image, that motivates its maker to carve it? It is only a cast image a teacher that lies because the engraver entrusts himself to his carving, crafting speechless idols.

A Conservative Version

What profits the graven image, that the maker of it has engraved it, the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make dumb idols?

American Standard Version

What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Amplified


“What profit is the carved image when its maker has formed it?
It is only a cast image, and a teacher of lies.
For its maker trusts in his own creation [as his god]
When he makes speechless idols.

Bible in Basic English

What profit is the pictured image to its maker? and as for the metal image, the false teacher, why does its maker put his faith in it, making false gods without a voice?

Darby Translation

What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it? the molten image, and the teacher of falsehood, that the maker of his work dependeth thereon, to make dumb idols?

Julia Smith Translation

What profited the carved image that he forming it carved it? the molten image and he teaching falsehood, that the former of his forming trusted upon it to make nothings being dumb?

King James 2000

What profits the graven image that its maker has shaped it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts in it, to make dumb idols?

Lexham Expanded Bible

What value [is] an idol when its carver has fashioned it, a molten idol, a teacher of lies? For [he who] fashioned his creation trusts in it, [though] making mute idols!

Modern King James verseion

What does an image profit, for its maker has carved it; a molten image, and a teacher of lies? For does the maker trust in his work on it, to make dumb idols?

Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale

What help then will the Image do, whom the workman hath fashioned? Or the vain cast Image, wherein because the craftsmen putteth his trust, therefore maketh he dumb Idols?

New Heart English Bible

"What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

The Emphasized Bible

What hath a carved image, profited, though the fashioner thereof, carved it? a molten image, and a teacher of falsehood, - though the fashioner of his fashioned thing trusted therein? that men should make Dumb Nonentities!

Webster

What profiteth the graven image that its maker hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

World English Bible

"What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

Youngs Literal Translation

What profit hath a graven image given That its former hath graven it? A molten image and teacher of falsehood, That trusted hath the former on his own formation -- to make dumb idols?

Interlinear

English(KJV)
Strong's
Root Form
Definition
Usage
יעל 
Ya`al 
Usage: 23

פּסל 
Pecel 
Usage: 31

that the maker
יצר 
Yatsar 
יצר 
Yatsar 
Usage: 62
Usage: 62

פּסל 
Pacal 
Usage: 6

it the molten image
מסּכה 
Maccekah 
Usage: 28

and a teacher
ירא ירה 
Yarah 
Usage: 83

of lies
שׁקר 
Sheqer 
Usage: 113

of his work
יצר 
Yetser 
Usage: 9

בּטח 
Batach 
Usage: 120

אלּם 
'illem 
Usage: 6

References

Fausets

Hastings

Morish

Context Readings

Doom On The Unrighteous

17 For you will pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon; terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. You have shed human blood and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them. 18 What good is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? Why would its creator place his trust in it and make such mute, worthless things? 19 The one who says to wood, 'Wake up!' is as good as dead -- he who says to speechless stone, 'Awake!' Can it give reliable guidance? It is overlaid with gold and silver; it has no life's breath inside it.



Cross References

Jeremiah 10:8

The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish. Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless!

Zechariah 10:2

For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

Isaiah 42:17

Those who trust in idols will turn back and be utterly humiliated, those who say to metal images, 'You are our gods.'"

Isaiah 44:9-10

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.

Jeremiah 2:27-28

They say to a wooden idol, 'You are my father.' They say to a stone image, 'You gave birth to me.' Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. Yet when they are in trouble, they say, 'Come and save us!'

1 Corinthians 12:2

You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however you were led.

Psalm 115:4-8

Their idols are made of silver and gold -- they are man-made.

Psalm 135:15-18

The nations' idols are made of silver and gold, they are man-made.

Isaiah 1:31

The powerful will be like a thread of yarn, their deeds like a spark; both will burn together, and no one will put out the fire.

Isaiah 37:38

One day, as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They ran away to the land of Ararat; his son Esarhaddon replaced him as king.

Isaiah 44:14-20

He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress or an oak. He gets trees from the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow.

Isaiah 45:16

They will all be ashamed and embarrassed; those who fashion idols will all be humiliated.

Isaiah 45:20

Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

Isaiah 46:1-2

Bel kneels down, Nebo bends low. Their images weigh down animals and beasts. Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals.

Isaiah 46:6-8

Those who empty out gold from a purse and weigh out silver on the scale hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god. They then bow down and worship it.

Jeremiah 10:3-5

For the religion of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools.

Jeremiah 10:14-15

All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols.

Jeremiah 50:2

"Announce the news among the nations! Proclaim it! Signal for people to pay attention! Declare the news! Do not hide it! Say: 'Babylon will be captured. Bel will be put to shame. Marduk will be dismayed. Babylon's idols will be put to shame. Her disgusting images will be dismayed.

Jonah 2:8

Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs.

Romans 1:23-25

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

Romans 6:21

So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan's working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders,

1 Timothy 4:1-2

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings,

Revelation 13:11-15

Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon.

Revelation 19:20

Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf -- signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.

King James Version Public Domain

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.

International Standard Version Copyright © 1996-2008 by the ISV Foundation.

New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org

American Standard Version Public Domain

NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NetBible

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain