9
Those who fashion a gravenimage are all of them futile, and their preciousthings are of noprofit; even their own witnessesfail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.
10
Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to noprofit?
lyi[w{h yiT.lib.l .$'s'n l,s,p.W lea r;c'y -yim
11
Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmenthemselves are meremen. Let them allassemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame.
12
The man shapesiron into a cuttingtool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strongarm. He alsogetshungry and his strengthfails; he drinksnowater and becomesweary.
13
Another shapeswood, he extends a measuringline; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, so that it may sit in a house.
14
Surely he cutscedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rainmakes it grow.
15
Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he alsomakes a fire to bakebread. He alsomakes a god and worships it; he makes it a gravenimage and fallsdown before it.
16
Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eatsmeat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He alsowarms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire."
17
But the rest of it he makes into a god, his gravenimage. He fallsdown before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god."
19
No one recalls**, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, "I have burnedhalf of it in the fire and also have bakedbreadover its coals. I roastmeat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I falldown before a block of wood!"