Isaiah 44:9-20
Those who fashion an idol are all futile, and their treasured things are of no benefit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no benefit?Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them be put to shame together.The craftsman of iron shapes a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary.The craftsman of wood extends a measuring line; he outlines it with a marker. He works it with carving knives and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of mankind, so that it may sit in a house.He will cut cedars for himself, and he takes a holm oak or another oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel tree, and the rain makes it grow.Then it becomes something for a person to burn, so he takes one of them and gets warm; he also makes a fire and bakes bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and bows down before it.Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat, he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says,“ Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.”Yet the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says,“ Save me, for you are my god.”They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.No one remembers, nor is there knowledge 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 I make the rest of it into an abomination, I bow down before a block of wood!”He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save himself, nor say,“ Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
