The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains.
Parallel translations
- WEB A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
- KJV The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
- BSB To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with 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 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 10:9There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; Blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.
- Isa 46:6–7Some 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.
- Judg 17:4When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made an engraved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah.
- Exod 32:2–4Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.”
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Hab 2:18–19“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?
- Isa 37:18–19Truly, Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have destroyed all the countries and their land,
- Isa 44:10–12Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?
- Isa 2:20In 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;
- Ps 135:15The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Jer 10:3–5For 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 ax.
- Hos 8:6For this is even from Israel! The workman made it, and it is no God; indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
- Ps 135:18Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.
- Isa 41:6–7Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, “Be strong!”
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.