Isaiah 40:18-20, Isaiah 44:9-20 - LSB - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 40:18-20

^aTo whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

As for the ^agraven images, a craftsman casts it,

A goldsmith ^bplates it with gold,

And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

He who is too impoverished to make such a contribution

Chooses a ^atree that does not rot;

He seeks out for himself a wise craftsman

To ¹prepare a graven image that ^bwill not be shaken.

Isaiah 44:9-20

The Futility of Idolatry

9 Those who form ¹a graven image are all of them ²futile, and their desirable things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be ^aput to shame. 10 Who has formed a god or cast a graven image to ^ano profit? 11 Behold, all his companions will be ^aput to shame. The craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them be in dread, let them together be put to shame.
12 The ^aman crafts iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, ¹forming it with hammers and working it with his powerful arm. He also gets hungry and has no power; he drinks no water and becomes weary. 13 ^aAnother crafts wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with ¹a stylus. He makes it with planes and outlines it with a compass and makes it like the form of a man, like the glory of ^bman, so that it may sit in a ^chouse. 14 In order to cut cedars for himself, he takes a ¹cypress or an oak and ²raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. 15 Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also ^aworks to produce a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and ^bfalls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm; I have seen the fire.” 17 But the rest of it he ^amakes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also ^bprays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”
18 They do not ^aknow, nor do they understand, for He has ^bsmeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they will have no insight. 19 No one causes this to return to his heart, nor is there ^aknowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then ¹I make the rest of it into an ^babomination; ²I fall down before a block of wood!” 20 He ¹^afeeds on ashes; a ^bdeceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver his soul, and he cannot say, “^cIs there not a lie in my right hand?”