Isaiah 44:12

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

A blacksmith works with his tool and forges metal over the coals. He forms it with hammers; he makes it with his strong arm. He gets hungry and loses his energy; he drinks no water and gets tired.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Isa 40:19 : 19 A craftsman casts an idol; a metalsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it.
  • Isa 41:6-7 : 6 They help one another; one says to the other,‘Be strong!’ 7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil. He approves the quality of the welding, and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”
  • Isa 46:6-7 : 6 Those who empty out gold from a purse and weigh out silver on the scale hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god. They then bow down and worship it. 7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it; they put it in its place and it just stands there; it does not move from its place. Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply; it does not deliver him from his distress.
  • Jer 10:3-9 : 3 For the religion of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. 4 He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold. He uses hammer and nails to fasten it together so that it will not fall over. 5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field. They cannot talk. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them because they cannot hurt you. And they do not have any power to help you.” 6 I said,“There is no one like you, LORD. You are great. And you are renowned for your power. 7 Everyone should revere you, O King of all nations, because you deserve to be revered. For there is no one like you among any of the wise people of the nations nor among any of their kings. 8 The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish. Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! 9 Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish and gold is brought from Ufaz to cover those idols. They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. They are all made by skillful workers. 10 The LORD is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. When he shows his anger the earth shakes. None of the nations can stand up to his fury. 11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:‘These gods did not make heaven and earth. They will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens.’
  • Hab 2:13 : 13 Be sure of this! The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has decreed: The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.
  • Exod 32:4 : 4 He accepted the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said,“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
  • Exod 32:8 : 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way that I commanded them– they have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and said,‘These are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt.’”

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Isa 44:9-11
    3 verses
    78%

    9All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

    10Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless?

    11Look, all his associates will be put to shame; the craftsmen are mere humans. Let them all assemble and take their stand! They will panic and be put to shame.

  • Isa 44:13-17
    5 verses
    76%

    13A carpenter takes measurements; he marks out an outline of its form; he scrapes it with chisels, and marks it with a compass. He patterns it after the human form, like a well-built human being, and puts it in a shrine.

    14He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress or an oak. He gets trees from the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow.

    15A man uses it to make a fire; 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.

    16Half of it he burns in the fire– over that half he cooks meat; he roasts a meal and fills himself. Yes, he warms himself and says,‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’

    17With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships it. He prays to it, saying,‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’

  • Isa 41:7
    75%

    7The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil. He approves the quality of the welding, and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

  • Isa 54:16
    74%

    16Look, I create the craftsman, who fans the coals into a fire and forges a weapon. I create the destroyer so he might devastate.

  • Isa 40:19-20
    2 verses
    74%

    19A craftsman casts an idol; a metalsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it.

    20To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make an idol that will not fall over.

  • Exod 31:4-5
    2 verses
    71%

    4to make artistic designs for work with gold, with silver, and with bronze,

    5and with cutting and setting stone, and with cutting wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship.

  • Isa 10:15
    71%

    15Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

  • Exod 35:32-33
    2 verses
    70%

    32to design artistic designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze,

    33and in cutting stones for their setting, and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft.

  • 1 Sam 13:19-20
    2 verses
    70%

    19A blacksmith could not be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said,“This will prevent the Hebrews from making swords and spears.”

    20So all Israel had to go down to the Philistines in order to get their plowshares, cutting instruments, axes, and sickles sharpened.

  • Job 28:2
    69%

    2Iron is taken from the ground, and rock is poured out as copper.

  • Isa 1:31
    69%

    31The powerful will be like a thread of yarn, their deeds like a spark; both will burn together, and no one will put out the fire.

  • Job 41:27
    69%

    27It regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.

  • Ezek 15:4
    69%

    4No! It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything?

  • Eccl 10:9-10
    2 verses
    69%

    9One who quarries stones may be injured by them; one who splits logs may be endangered by them.

    10If an iron axhead is blunt and a workman does not sharpen its edge, he must exert a great deal of effort; so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

  • Jer 15:12
    68%

    12Can you people who are like iron and bronze break that iron fist from the north?

  • Hab 2:13
    68%

    13Be sure of this! The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has decreed: The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.

  • Isa 45:9
    68%

    9The Lord Gives a Warning One who argues with his Creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter,“What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!”

  • Job 24:11
    68%

    11They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty.

  • 1 Chr 22:15-16
    2 verses
    68%

    15You also have available many workers, including stonecutters, masons, carpenters, and an innumerable array of workers who are skilled

    16in using gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Get up and begin the work! May the LORD be with you!”

  • Jer 6:29
    68%

    29The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. The process of refining them has proved useless. The wicked have not been purged.

  • Jer 10:9
    68%

    9Hammered-out silver is brought from Tarshish and gold is brought from Ufaz to cover those idols. They are the handiwork of carpenters and goldsmiths. They are clothed in blue and purple clothes. They are all made by skillful workers.

  • Jer 10:14
    68%

    14All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols.

  • Ps 74:6
    67%

    6And now they are tearing down all its engravings with axes and crowbars.

  • Jer 51:17
    67%

    17All idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made. For the image he forges is merely a sham. There is no breath in any of those idols.

  • Neh 4:17-18
    2 verses
    67%

    17who were rebuilding the wall. Those who were carrying loads did so by keeping one hand on the work and the other on their weapon.

    18The builders to a man had their swords strapped to their sides while they were building. But the trumpeter remained with me.

  • Joel 3:10
    67%

    10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears! Let the weak say,‘I too am a warrior!’

  • 2 Chr 24:12
    67%

    12The king and Jehoiada gave it to the construction foremen assigned to the LORD’s temple. They hired carpenters and craftsmen to repair the LORD’s temple, as well as those skilled in working with iron and bronze to restore the LORD’s temple.

  • Nah 3:14
    67%

    14Draw yourselves water for a siege! Strengthen your fortifications! Trample the mud and tread the clay! Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls!

  • Ezek 21:11
    67%

    11“‘He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand– the sword is sharpened, it is polished– giving it into the hand of the executioner.

  • Exod 35:35
    67%

    35He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers. They are craftsmen in all the work and artistic designers.

  • Isa 44:20
    66%

    20He feeds on ashes; his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say,‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’

  • Isa 46:6
    66%

    6Those who empty out gold from a purse and weigh out silver on the scale hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god. They then bow down and worship it.

  • Job 40:18
    66%

    18Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron.

  • Zech 1:20
    66%

    20Next the LORD showed me four blacksmiths.

  • Ps 129:7
    66%

    7which cannot fill the reaper’s hand, or the lap of the one who gathers the grain!