Isaiah 44:13

Then a woodcarver takes a big block/piece of wood and he measures it; then he marks it to show where he will cut it. He uses a chisel and other tools to carve it to resemble a human. He causes it to become a very beautiful idol, and then he puts it in a shrine.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

In Context

12Metalworkers stand in front of hot coals in order to make idols. They pound them strongly with hammers, and shape them. Because they work very hard, they become hungry and weak; they become very thirsty and feel exhausted.

14Before he carves an idol from that block of wood, he has cut down a cedar tree, or he has selected a cypress tree or an oak tree and allowed it to grow tall in the forest. Or, he has planted a pine/evergreen tree and the rain has watered it and caused it to grow tall.

Read all of Isaiah 44

Cross References

Genesis 31:30Now, I know you have left because you long to go back home. But why did you steal my wooden idols?”

Genesis 35:2So Jacob said to his household and to all the others who were with him, “Get rid of the idols you brought from Mesopotamia. Also, bathe yourselves and put on clean clothes.

Deuteronomy 4:16that you do not sin by making for yourselves any idol of something that can be seen! Do not make an idol that resembles any person, either a man or a woman,

Deuteronomy 27:15‘Yahweh will curse anyone who makes an idol of stone, or of wood, or of metal, and secretly sets it up and worships it. Yahweh considers that those things, made by humans [SYN], are detestable/disgusting.’ And all the people must reply, ‘◄Amen/We want that to happen►.’

Judges 18:24Micah shouted, “You took the silver idols that were made for me! You also took my priest! I do not have anything left [RHQ]! So why do you ask me, ‘What is the problem?’”

Isaiah 41:7The craftsmen encourage those who make things from gold, and the men who flatten metal encourage those who hammer metal ◄on an anvil/into shape►. They all say, “The idol has been well made!” And then they carefully nail down the idol in order that it will not topple over!

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

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