Isa 44:12-20 | NASB1995 | STEP | The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals , fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm . He also gets hungry and his strength fails ; he drinks no water and becomes weary .

Isaiah 44:12-20

12 The ^aman shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, ^{▼▼ Lit and fashions}fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and ^{▼▼ Lit there is no strength}his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. 13 ^d Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of ^eman, so that it may sit in a ^fhouse. 14 Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a ^{▼▼ Or holm-oak}cypress or an oak and ^{▼▼ Lit makes strong}raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. 15 Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also ⁱmakes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and ^jfalls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” 17 But the rest of it he ^kmakes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also ^lprays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”

18 They do not ^mknow, nor do they understand, for He has ⁿsmeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. 19 No one ^{▼▼ Lit returns to his heart}recalls, nor is there ^pknowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then ^{▼▼ Or shall I make?}I make the rest of it into an ^rabomination, ^{▼▼ Or shall I fall...?}I fall down before a block of wood!” 20 He ^{▼▼ Or is a companion of ashes
,} ^ufeeds on ashes; a ^vdeceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver ^{▼▼ Lit his soul}himself, nor say, ^x“Is there not a lie in my right hand?”