Isaiah 40:20

He that is skilled in the choice chooseth a wood that will not rot; he seeketh unto himself a skilful workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

Leeser Tanakh

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

19The graven image the artificer hath cast and the goldsmith hath overspread it with gold, and fabricated [on it] silver chains.

21Know ye not? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not paid attention to the foundations of the earth?

Read all of Isaiah 40

Cross References

Isaiah 2:8And full became their land of idols; to the work of their own hands they bow themselves, to what their own fingers have made.

Isaiah 44:13The worker in wood stretcheth out the rule; he marketh it out with chalk; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, after the beauty of a child of earth, that it may dwell in a house.

Jeremiah 10:3For the statutes of these people concern what is vanity; for it is but a tree which a man hath cut out of a forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:19-27

Vanity of Idols. ( b. c. 708.) 18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 20 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. 21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Isaiah 40:20