Isaiah 40:19-31

19 aAn idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 bHe who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood
Or  He chooses valuable wood
that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21 dDo you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are elike grasshoppers;
fwho stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 gwho brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
hand the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25 iTo whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
jHe who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
k“My way is hidden from the Lord,
land my right is disregarded by my God”?
28Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is mthe everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
nhis understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31but othey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings plike eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 44:9-20

The Folly of Idolatry

9 qAll who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 rWho fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 sBehold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.

12 tThe ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. uHe shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 vHe cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. wHe prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

18They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an xabomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 yHe feeds on zashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not aaa lie in my right hand?”

Isaiah 45:20

20 ab“Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
acThey have no knowledge
who adcarry about their wooden idols,
aeand keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.

Hosea 8:4-6

4 afThey made kings, agbut not through me.
They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
for their own destruction.
5 ahI have
Hebrew He has
spurned your calf, O Samaria.
My anger burns against them.
ajHow long will they be incapable of innocence?
6For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
it is not God.
akThe calf of Samaria
alshall be broken to pieces.
Or  shall go up in flames

Habakkuk 2:18-19

18 anWhat profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, aoa teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes apspeechless idols!
19 aqWoe to him arwho says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and asthere is no breath at all in it.
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