Isaiah 44:12-20

12The 1craftsman of iron shapes a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, 2fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and 3his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. 134The 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 5mankind, so that it may sit in a 6house. 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 7makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and 8bows 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 9makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down before it and worships; he also 10prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

18They do not 11know, nor do they understand, for He has 12smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. 19No one 13remembers, nor is there 14knowledge 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 15I make the rest of it into an 16abomination, 17I bow down before a block of wood!” 20He 1819feeds on ashes; a 20deceived heart has misled him. And he cannot save 21himself, nor say, “22Is there not a lie in my right hand?”