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18 To whom can you liken God?(A)
    With what likeness can you confront him?
19 An idol? An artisan casts it,
    the smith plates it with gold,
    fits it with silver chains.[a](B)
20 Is mulberry wood the offering?
    A skilled artisan picks out
    a wood that will not rot,
    Seeks to set up for himself
    an idol that will not totter.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 40:19 Chains: needed to hold the idol steady when carried in processions; cf. v. 20; Jer 10:4.

18 With whom, then, will you compare God?(A)
    To what image(B) will you liken him?
19 As for an idol,(C) a metalworker casts it,
    and a goldsmith(D) overlays it with gold(E)
    and fashions silver chains for it.
20 A person too poor to present such an offering
    selects wood(F) that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
    to set up an idol(G) that will not topple.(H)

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