Isaiah 44:10-20

10Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to 1no benefit? 11Behold, all his companions will be 2put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them be put to shame together.

12The 3craftsman of iron shapes a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, 4fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and 5his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. 136The craftsman of wood extends a measuring line; he outlines it with a marker. He works it with carving knives and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of 7mankind, so that it may sit in a 8house. 14He will cut cedars for himself, and he takes a holm-oak or another oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel tree, and the rain makes it grow. 15Then it becomes something for a person to burn, so he takes one of them and gets warm; he also makes a fire and bakes bread. He also 9makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and 10bows down before it. 16Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat, he roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” 17Yet the rest of it he 11makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down before it and worships; he also 12prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

18They do not 13know, nor do they understand, for He has 14smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. 19No one 15remembers, nor is there 16knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then 17I make the rest of it into an 18abomination, 19I bow down before a block of wood!” 20He 2021feeds on ashes; a 22deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save 23himself, nor say, “24Is there not a lie in my right hand?”