Isaiah 40:19
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
- KJV
- The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
- WEB
- A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
- ASV
- The image, a workman hath cast [it], and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth [for it] silver chains.
- DARBY
- The workman casteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains [for it].
- BLB
- To an idol a craftsman casts, and a metalworker overlays it with gold and fits with chains of silver?
- ÅB
- Gudebildet er støpt av en mester, og en gullsmed klær det med gull, og han støper sølvkjeder til det.
- OTB
- Når det gjelder et idol, støper en håndverker det, og en gullsmed overtrekker det med gull og lager sølvkjeder for det.
- B1930
- Gudebilledet er støpt av en mester, og en gullsmed klær det med gull, og han støper sølvkjeder til det.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Jeremiah 10:9
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
Read in contextIsaiah 46:6–7
They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
Read in contextExodus 32:2–4
And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
Read in contextHabakkuk 2:18–19
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?
Read in contextPsalms 115:4–8
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
Read in contextJudges 17:4
Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
Read in contextJeremiah 10:3–5
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
Read in contextIsaiah 44:10–12
Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
Read in context