Isaiah 40:20

World English Bible (2000)

He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • 1 Sam 5:3-4 : 3 When they of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. They took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 4 When they arose early on the next day morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [lay] cut off on the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him.
  • Isa 41:7 : 7 So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good;" and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.
  • Isa 46:7 : 7 They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
  • Jer 10:3-4 : 3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.
  • Dan 5:23 : 23 but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don't see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.
  • Isa 2:8-9 : 8 Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. 9 Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don't forgive them.
  • Isa 44:13-19 : 13 The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. 14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it. 16 He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself, and says, "Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire." 17 The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, "Deliver me; for you are my god!" 18 They don't know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can't see; and their hearts, that they can't understand. 19 No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, "I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?"

Similar Verses (AI)

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

  • Isa 40:18-19
    2 verses
    81%

    18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

    19A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

  • Isa 44:9-12
    4 verses
    78%

    9Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don't see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.

    10Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

    11Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together.

    12The blacksmith takes an axe, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.

  • Hab 2:18-19
    2 verses
    76%

    18"What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

    19Woe to him who says to the wood, 'Awake!' or to the mute stone, 'Arise!' Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst.

  • 17The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, "Deliver me; for you are my god!"

  • Jer 10:3-4
    2 verses
    75%

    3For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

    4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.

  • Isa 44:14-15
    2 verses
    75%

    14He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.

    15Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it.

  • Isa 46:6-7
    2 verses
    73%

    6Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down--yes, they worship.

    7They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

  • Jer 51:17-18
    2 verses
    73%

    17Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

    18They are vanity, a work of delusion: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

  • 14Every man is become brutish [and is] without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

  • 8They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands; neither shall they respect that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the incense altars.

  • 8Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

  • Isa 44:19-20
    2 verses
    71%

    19No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, "I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?"

    20He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can't deliver his soul, nor say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?"

  • 15The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

  • 20"Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can't save.

  • 18Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

  • 28There you shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

  • 8Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.

  • 20Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?

  • 4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

  • 32and that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, in that you say, We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

  • Ezek 15:3-4
    2 verses
    70%

    3Shall wood be taken of it to make any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

    4Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and its midst is burned: is it profitable for any work?

  • 7"Behold, this is the man who didn't make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness."

  • 8But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.

  • 24Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

  • 15Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.

  • 33in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of skillful workmanship.

  • 7So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good;" and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

  • 15'Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' All the people shall answer and say, 'Amen.'

  • 20In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

  • 7For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold--sin which your own hands have made for you.

  • 1Israel is a luxuriant vine that puts forth his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.

  • 21Haven't you known? Haven't you heard, yet? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?

  • 19One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

  • 5of gold for the [things of] gold, and of silver for the [things of] silver, and for all kinds of work [to be made] by the hands of artificers. Who then offers willingly to consecrate himself this day to Yahweh?"

  • 20As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations [and] their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing.

  • 4to devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

  • 11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.

  • 7There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

  • 9Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more.