Isaiah 41:7

7 And strengthen doth an artizan the refiner, A smoother [with] a hammer, Him who is beating [on] an anvil, Saying, `For joining it [is] good,' And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved!

Isaiah 41:7 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 41:7

So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith
The carpenter, when he had made a wooden image, encouraged and hastened the goldsmith, or the "finer", as some render it, to do his part, in covering it with plates of gold or silver: and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil;
he that beat out thin plates of gold and silver with the hammer, in order to decorate the wooden god, encouraged the smith at the forge, that smote on the anvil, there making nails for the fastening it to a pillar or wall, to hasten his work: saying, it is ready for the sodering;
for the several joints to be put together, by sodering them: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved;
either the goldsmith and finer fastened the plates of gold and silver with nails, that they might be kept fast and close to it; or the smith that smote on the anvil, and made the nails, he fastened the image with them at some proper place, that so it might not fall, or be taken away. All which, as it represents the hurry and solicitude idolaters were in to keep up their craft and religion, so it exposes them to ridicule and contempt.

Isaiah 41:7 In-Context

5 Seen have isles and fear, ends of the earth tremble, They have drawn near, yea, they come.
6 Each his neighbour they help, And to his brother he saith, `Be strong.'
7 And strengthen doth an artizan the refiner, A smoother [with] a hammer, Him who is beating [on] an anvil, Saying, `For joining it [is] good,' And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved!
8 -- And thou, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham, My lover,
9 Whom I have taken hold of, from the ends of the earth, And from its near places I have called thee, And I say to thee, My servant Thou [art], I have chosen thee, and not rejected thee.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.