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Isaiah 44:12

10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

11 Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame.

The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

13 The woodworker extends a measuring line; he marks it out with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He fashions it in the likeness of man, like man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.

14 He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

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This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.
KJV
The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
WEB
The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.
ASV
The smith [maketh] an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
DARBY
The iron-smith [hath] a chisel, and he worketh in the coals, and he fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; but he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he hath not drunk water, and he is faint.
BLB
The craftsman of iron [has] an ax and works over the coal, and with hammers he fashions [it], and works it with the strength of his arm. Even so he grows hungry, and [has] no strength; he does not drink water, and he becomes faint.
ÅB
Smeden bruker sin meisel og arbeider ved kullild; han former bildet med hamrer, han arbeider på det med sin kraftige arm; han blir sulten under arbeidet og kraftløs, han drikker ikke vann og blir slapp.
OTB
Smeden tar et verktøy og arbeider med det i kullene; han former et idol med hammere og smir det med sin arms styrke. Han blir sulten og mister styrke; han drikker ikke vann og blir svak.
B1930
Smeden bruker sin meisel og arbeider ved kullild; han former billedet med hamrer, han arbeider på det med sin kraftige arm; han blir sulten under arbeidet og kraftløs, han drikker ikke vann og blir slapp.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Isaiah 41:6–7

    Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

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  • Isaiah 40:19

    To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

    Read in context

  • Isaiah 46:6–7

    They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

    Read in context

  • Jeremiah 10:3–11

    For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

    Read in context

  • Habakkuk 2:13

    Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?

    Read in context

  • Exodus 32:4

    He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

    Read in context

  • Exodus 32:8

    How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

    Read in context