The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
Parallel translations
- WEB A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
- BSB To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
- ESV An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
- NKJV The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains.
- NASB As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
- NLT Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Idols are merely manufactured objects, cast by craftsmen and overlaid with gold and silver.
Overview
In sharp contrast to the living God, an idol is the product of human labor and precious metals. Isaiah exposes the absurdity of worshiping something one's own hands have made. The mockery underscores that only the uncreated Creator is worthy of worship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 10:9Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
- Isa 46:6–7They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
- Judg 17:4Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
- Exod 32:2–4And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Hab 2:18–19What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
- Isa 37:18–19Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
- Isa 44:10–12Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
- Isa 2:20In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
- Ps 135:15The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Jer 10:3–5For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
- Hos 8:6For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
- Ps 135:18They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.
- Isa 41:6–7They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 40:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.