Isaiah 44:20

The idolater feeds on ashes, deceived in heart, unable to save himself or see the lie in his hand. It sums up idolatry as self-deception that ends in emptiness.

Cross-references · 24

• Job 15:31Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.
• Rom 1:28Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
• Hos 12:1Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.
• Ps 102:9For I have eaten ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears
• 2 Tim 2:13if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
• Rom 1:25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
• Hos 4:12My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
• 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.
• Luke 15:16He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.
• 2 Th 2:9–11The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,
• 1 Tim 4:2influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.
• 2 Tim 3:13while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
• Rom 1:20–22For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
• Rev 13:14Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.
• Rev 20:3And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. After that, he must be released for a brief period of time.
• Rev 12:9And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
• Jer 16:19O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.
• Rev 18:23The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”
• 1 Kgs 22:20–23And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one suggested this, and another that.
• Prov 15:14A discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.
• Isa 28:15–17For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
• Isa 59:13rebelling and denying the LORD, turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.
• Isa 59:3–4For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice.
• Job 15:2“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

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.