Logos Bible Study

Isaiah 44:9–17

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44:9All who form idols are nothing;

the things in which they delight are worthless.

Their witnesses cannot see;

they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

44:10Who forms a god and casts an idol

that will prove worthless?13

44:11Look, all his associates14 will be put to shame;

the craftsmen are mere humans.15

Let them all assemble and take their stand!

They will panic and be put to shame.

44:12A blacksmith works with his tool16

and forges metal over the coals.

He forms it17 with hammers;

he makes it with his strong arm.

He gets hungry and loses his energy;18

he drinks no water and gets tired.

44:13A carpenter takes measurements;19

he marks out an outline of its form;20

he scrapes21 it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form,22

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine.23

44:14He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress24 or an oak.

He gets25 trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar26 and the rain makes it grow.

44:15A man uses it to make a fire;27

he takes some of it and warms himself.

Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.

Then he makes a god and worships it;

he makes an idol and bows down to it.28

44:16Half of it he burns in the fire—

over that half he cooks29 meat;

he roasts a meal and fills himself.

Yes, he warms himself and says,

‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’

44:17With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;

he bows down to it and worships it.

He prays to it, saying,

‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’

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Footnotes

  1. 13 The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough …?”
  2. 14 The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.
  3. 15 The point seems to be this: If the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”
  4. 16 The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See מַעֲצָד.
  5. 17 Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. , , ). understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.
  6. 18 Heb “and there is no strength”; “his strength fails.”
  7. 19 Heb “stretches out a line” ( similar); “measures with a line.”
  8. 20 Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. “with a line”; “with a pencil”; , “with a stylus”; “with red chalk”; “with a marker.”
  9. 21 Heb “works” (so ) or “fashions” (so ); “he roughs it out.”
  10. 22 Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; “like a man in appearance.”
  11. 23 Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; “that it may dwell in a shrine.”
  12. 24 It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. “a holm-tree” ( similar).
  13. 25 Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see 55 אָמֵץ Pi.2).
  14. 26 Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (), 44–45. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
  15. 27 Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; “to serve man for fuel.”
  16. 28 Or perhaps, “them.”
  17. 29 Heb “eats” (so ); , “roasts.”

The NET Bible First Edition, Copyright 1996-2005 by Biblical Studies Press