Isaiah 40:19

19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with 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; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

18 To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

20 One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?