12 The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint. 13 The woodworker extends a measuring line; he marks it out with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He fashions it in the likeness of man, like man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. 14 He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.
Isaiah 44:12–14
Semantically similar passages
Isaiah 40:19–21
19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains? 20 To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple? 21 Do you not know? Have you…
Sirach 38:29–31
29 So is the potter sitting at his work and turning the wheel around with his feet, who is always anxiously set at his work. He produces his handiwork in quantity. (WEB) 30 He will fashion the clay with his arm and will bend its strength in front of his feet. He will appl… (WEB)
Wisdom of Solomon 13:12–14
12 Burning the scraps from his handiwork to cook his food, he eats his fill. (WEB) 13 Taking a discarded scrap which served no purpose, a crooked piece of wood and full of knots, he carves it with the diligence of his idleness, and shapes it by the skill of his idleness.… (WEB) 14 … (WEB)
Isaiah 41:6–8
6 Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” 7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled. 8 “But you, O Is…
Jeremiah 10:2–4
2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped…
Isaiah 46:6–8
6 They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship. 7 They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging fro…
Habakkuk 2:17–19
17 For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers. 18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carv…
Baruch 6:38–40
38 They can show no mercy to the widow, or do good to the fatherless. (WEB) 39 They are like the stones that are cut out of the mountain, these gods of wood that are overlaid with gold and with silver. Those who minister to them will be confounded. (WEB) 40 How could a man then thi… (WEB)
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