Isaiah 44:12

The iron-smith [maketh] an axe and worketh it in the coals, and with hammers he fashioneth it, and worketh it with his powerful arm; he also, when he is hungry, loseth his strength: when he drinketh no water, he becometh faint.

Leeser Tanakh

In The King James Version

The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

In Context

11Behold, all his associates shall be ashamed, for the workmen themselves are but men: let them all be gathered, let them stand up, they shall be terrified, they shall be ashamed together.

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.

Read all of Isaiah 44

Cross References

Exodus 32:4And he took them from their hand, and fashioned it in a mould, and he made of it a molten calf; and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 40:19The graven image the artificer hath cast and the goldsmith hath overspread it with gold, and fabricated [on it] silver chains.

Isaiah 46:6[There are those] that lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance; that hire a melter, that he may make of it a god; they [then] bend the knee, yea, they bow themselves down;

Habakkuk 2:13Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that people shall labor for the very fire, and nations shall weary themselves for naught but vanity!

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 44:10-21

The Folly of Idolatry. ( b. c. 708.) 9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. 12 The smith with the… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Isaiah 44:12