Isaiah 40:20

He who is poor [by] raised-offerings, || Chooses a tree [that is] not rotten, || He seeks a skillful artisan for it, || To establish a carved image—not moved.

Literal Standard Version

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

19An artisan has poured out the carved image, || And a refiner spreads it over with gold, || And he is refining chains of silver.

21Do you not know—do you not hear? Has it not been declared from the first to you? Have you not understood || [From] the foundations of the earth?

Read all of Isaiah 40

Cross References

Isaiah 2:8And its land is full of idols, || It bows itself to the work of its hands, || To that which its fingers have made,

Isaiah 44:13He has worked [with] wood, || He has stretched out a rule, || He marks it out with a line, || He makes it with carving tools, || And he marks it out with a compass, || And makes it according to the form of a man, || According to the beauty of a man, || To remain in the house.

Jeremiah 10:3For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, || For one has cut a tree from a forest, || Work of the hands of a craftsman, with an 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

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