Isaiah 40:20

For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely inquire how he shall set up his image, and that so that it should not be moved.

Updated Brenton Septuagint

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

19Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilded it over, and made it a similitude?

21Will ye not know? will ye not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have ye not known the foundations of the earth?

Read all of Isaiah 40

Cross References

Isaiah 2:8And the land is filled with abominations, even the works of their hands; and they have worshiped the works which their fingers made.

Isaiah 44:13The artificer having chosen a piece of wood, marks it out with a rule, and fits it with glue, and makes it as the form of a man, and as the beauty of a man, to set it up in the house.

Jeremiah 10:3For the customs of the nations are vain; it is a tree cut out of the forest, the work of the carpenter, or a molten image.

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 →

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