Isaiah 41:29

¹³The prophets will become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them.”

²⁴Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

⁴Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. ⁵They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. ⁶They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. ⁷They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat. ⁸Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. ¹⁶They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. ¹⁷They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths. ¹⁸Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.

²The LORD says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them. ³For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. ⁴They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move. ⁵They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” ⁶There is no one like you, LORD. You are great, and your name is great in might. ⁷Who shouldn’t fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you. ⁸But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood. ⁹There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skillful men. ¹⁰But the LORD is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.

¹¹“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’” ¹²God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens. ¹³When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries. ¹⁴Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁵They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish. ¹⁶The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of Armies is his name.

⁹Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed. ¹⁰Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. ¹²The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. ¹³The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. ¹⁴He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he burns it and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. ¹⁶He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.” ¹⁷The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” ¹⁸They don’t know, neither do they consider, for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see, and their hearts, that they can’t understand. ¹⁹No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?” ²⁰He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”

¹⁸“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?