Isaiah 40:19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
19 An idol? A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.(A)
Isaiah 40:20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood[a]
—wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
to set up an image that will not topple.(A)
Footnotes
- 40.20 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Jeremiah 10:3-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 For the customs of the peoples are false:
a tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;(A)
4 they deck it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammers and nails
so that it cannot move.(B)
5 Their idols[a] are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
nor is it in them to do good.(C)
6 There is none like you, O Lord;
you are great, and your name is great in might.(D)
7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For that is your due;
among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is no one like you.(E)
8 They are both stupid and foolish;
the instruction given by idols
is no better than wood
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith;
their clothing is blue and purple;
they are all the product of skilled workers.(G)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.