Isaiah 44:12-20
12 The (A)man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, (a)fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and (b)his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.
13 (B)Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of (C)man, so that it may sit in a (D)house.
14 Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a (c)cypress or an oak and (d)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 makes a fire to bake bread. He also (E)makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and (F)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 (G)makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also (H)prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”
18 They do not (I)know, nor do they understand, for He has (J)smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.
19 No one (e)recalls, nor is there (K)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 (f)I make the rest of it into an (L)abomination, (g)I fall down before a block of wood!”
20 He (h)(M)feeds on ashes; a (N)deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver (i)himself, nor say, “(O)Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Footnotes:
a.
Isaiah 44:12: ['Lit ', and fashions]
b.
Isaiah 44:12: ['Lit ', there is no strength]
c.
Isaiah 44:14: ['Or ', holm-oak]
d.
Isaiah 44:14: ['Lit ', makes strong]
e.
Isaiah 44:19: ['Lit ', returns to his heart]
f.
Isaiah 44:19: ['Or ', shall I make, '?']
g.
Isaiah 44:19: ['Or ', shall I fall, '...?']
h.
Isaiah 44:20: ['Or ', is a companion of ashes]
i.
Isaiah 44:20: ['Lit ', his soul]
Cross references:
A.
Isaiah 44:12:
Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 40:20; Isaiah 41:6; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 46:6; Isaiah 46:7; Jeremiah 10:3-5; Habakkuk 2:18