Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?
Parallel translations
- WEB Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?
- KJV Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
- NKJV Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing?
- NASB Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no benefit?
- NLT Who but a fool would make his own god— an idol that cannot help him one bit?
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
Whoever fashions a god or casts an idol makes something utterly profitless. It drives home that man-made gods are good for nothing.
Overview
The rhetorical question highlights the absurdity of crafting a 'god' that can do nothing. Human hands cannot produce true deity. This exposure of idolatry's futility magnifies the contrast with the God who truly saves, the God made known in Jesus Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jer 10:5Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”
- Hab 2:18What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Acts 19:26And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.
- Dan 3:14and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden statue I have set up?
- 1 Kgs 12:28After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
- Dan 3:1King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
- Isa 41:29See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.
- 1 Cor 8:4So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 44:10 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.