Isaiah 40:19

19 An idol? —A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.

Isaiah 40:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 40:19

The workman melteth a graven image
Or, "the founder"; he melts some sort of metal, as iron, brass, copper, or lead, which he casts into a mould for an image, and afterwards graves, or gets it graved: and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold;
or, "the finer"; he stretches out plates of gold, and covers it with them, so that it looks as if it was made of solid gold, and deceives the eyes of men; such stupidity and vanity are there in mortals to believe that there can be deity in such a piece of workmanship! and casteth silver chains to put about the graven image,
either for ornament, or rather to fasten it to some wall or pillar, that it may stand upright, and may not be taken down and stole away, or blown down with the wind, or fall of itself and be broken; thus ridiculing the weakness of these idols, and the folly of the makers and worshippers of them. The Targum is,

``the silversmith joins silver chains to it.''

Isaiah 40:19 In-Context

17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

19 An idol? —A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.

20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood —wood that will not rot— then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple.

21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?