Isaiah 40:20

A wise craftsman choose (th) a strong tree, and unable to be rotten; he seeketh how he shall ordain a simulacrum, that shall not be moved.

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

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

19Whether a smith shall weld together an image, either a goldsmith shall figure it in gold, and a worker in silver shall dight it with pieces of silver?

21Whether ye know not? whether ye heard not? whether it was not told to you from the beginning? whether ye understood not (from) the foundaments of [the] earth?

Read all of Isaiah 40

Cross References

Isaiah 2:8And the land thereof is filled with idols, and they worship the work of their hands, which their fingers made;

Isaiah 44:13A carpenter stretched forth a rule, he formed it with an adze or with an awl, either a joiner’s hook; he made it in the corner places, and he turned it in compass, (or he made the corners, and he turned it all around); and he made the image of a man, as a fair man, dwelling in the house.

Jeremiah 10:3For the laws of peoples be vain (or For the religions, or the customs, of the peoples, or of the nations, be empty and futile), for why the work of [the] hands of a craftsman hath cut down with an ax a tree of the forest.

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