Font Size
Isaiah 44:13-15
New English Translation
Isaiah 44:13-15
New English Translation
13 A carpenter takes measurements;[a]
he marks out an outline of its form;[b]
he scrapes[c] it with chisels,
and marks it with a compass.
He patterns it after the human form,[d]
like a well-built human being,
and puts it in a shrine.[e]
14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress[f] or an oak.
He gets[g] trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar[h] and the rain makes it grow.
15 A man uses it to make a fire;[i]
he takes some of it and warms himself.
Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
Then he makes a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.[j]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”
- Isaiah 44:13 tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”
- Isaiah 44:14 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
- Isaiah 44:14 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
- Isaiah 44:14 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (ʾoren) to אֶרֶז (ʾerez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
- Isaiah 44:15 tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”
- Isaiah 44:15 tn Or perhaps, “them.”
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.