Isaiah 44:9-19

9Those who fashion an idol are all futile, and their treasured things are of no benefit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be 1put to shame. 10Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to 2no benefit? 11Behold, all his companions will be 3put 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 4craftsman of iron shapes a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, 5fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and 6his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. 137The 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 8mankind, so that it may sit in a 9house. 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 10makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image and 11bows 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 12makes into a god, his carved image. He bows down before it and worships; he also 13prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

18They do not 14know, nor do they understand, for He has 15smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. 19No one 16remembers, nor is there 17knowledge 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 18I make the rest of it into an 19abomination, 20I bow down before a block of wood!”