40 Heb “pours out”; “melteth.”
41 The first two words of the verse (הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה, hamsukan térumah) are problematic. Some take מְסֻכָּן as an otherwise unattested Pual participle from סָכַן (sakhan, “be poor”) and translate “the one who is impoverished.” תְּרוּמָה (térumah, “contribution”) can then be taken as an adverbial accusative, “with respect to a contribution,” and the entire line translated, “the one who is too impoverished for such a contribution [i.e., the metal idol of v. 19?] selects wood that will not rot.” However, מְסֻכָּן is probably the name of a tree used in idol manufacturing (cognate with Akkadian musukkanu, cf. H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [], 133). מְסֻכָּן may be a scribal interpretive addition attempting to specify עֵץ (’ets) or עֵץ may be a scribal attempt to categorize מְסֻכָּן. How an idol constitutes a תְּרוּמָה (“contribution”) is not entirely clear.
42 Or “set up” (, , , ); , “to prepare.”

In other versions

An idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

He who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and fashions silver chains for it.

A person too poor to present such an offering

selects wood that will not rot;

they look for a skilled worker

to set up an idol that will not topple.

An idol?—something that a smelter casts

and a metalworker plates with gold

and makes silver chains for?

A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal

that will not rot.

He looks for a skilled craftsman

to set up an idol that will not fall over.

Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,

overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?

Or if people are too poor for that,

they might at least choose wood that won’t decay

and a skilled craftsman

to carve an image that won’t fall down!

A craftsman pours out the idol,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,

and he smelts chains of silver.

The one who is too impoverished for a gift chooses wood that will not rot;

he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image that will not be knocked over.

The workman melteth a graven image,

And the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold,

And casteth silver chains.

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.

Public Domain