Isaiah 44:9–20

Idols Are Useless

⁹Some people make idols, but they are worth nothing.

People treasure them, but they are useless.

Those people are witnesses for the statues, but those people cannot see.

They know nothing, so they will be ashamed.

¹⁰Who made these gods?

Who made these useless idols?

¹¹The workmen who made them will be ashamed,

because they are only human.

If they all would come together,

they would all be ashamed and afraid.

¹²One workman uses tools to heat iron,

and he works over hot coals.

With his hammer he beats the metal and makes a statue,

using his powerful arms.

But when he becomes hungry, he loses his power.

If he does not drink water, he becomes tired.

¹³Another workman uses a line and a compass

to draw on the wood.

Then he uses his chisels to cut a statue

and his calipers to measure the statue.

In this way, the workman makes the wood look exactly like a person,

and this statue of a person sits in the house.

¹⁴He cuts down cedars

or cypress or oak trees.

Those trees grew by their own power in the forest.

Or he plants a pine tree, and the rain makes it grow.

¹⁵Then he burns the tree.

He uses some of the wood for a fire to keep himself warm.

He also starts a fire to bake his bread.

But he uses part of the wood to make a god, and then he worships it!

He makes the idol and bows down to it!

¹⁶The man burns half of the wood in the fire.

He uses the fire to cook his meat,

and he eats the meat until he is full.

He also burns the wood to keep himself warm. He says,

“Good! Now I am warm. I can see because of the fire’s light.”

¹⁷But he makes a statue from the wood that is left and calls it his god.

He bows down to it and worships it.

He prays to it and says,

“You are my god. Save me!”

¹⁸Those people don’t know what they are doing. They don’t understand!

It is as if their eyes are covered so they can’t see.

Their minds don’t understand.

¹⁹They have not thought about these things;

they don’t understand.

They have never thought to themselves,

“I burned half of the wood in the fire

and used the hot coals to bake my bread.

I cooked and ate my meat.

And I used the wood that was left to make this hateful thing.

I am worshiping a block of wood!”

²⁰He doesn’t know what he is doing;

his confused mind leads him the wrong way.

He cannot save himself

or say, “This statue I am holding is a false god.”