Isaiah 44:19-20

44:19 No one thinks to himself,

nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves:

‘I burned half of it in the fire –

yes, I baked bread over the coals;

I roasted meat and ate it.

With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol?

Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ¹ 

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ² 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ³ 

Isaiah 57:7-8

57:7 On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed;

you go up there to offer sacrifices.

57:8 Behind the door and doorpost you put your symbols. ⁴ 

Indeed, ⁵  you depart from me ⁶  and go up

and invite them into bed with you. ⁷ 

You purchase favors from them, ⁸ 

you love their bed,

and gaze longingly ⁹  on their genitals. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 2:27-28

2:27 They say to a wooden idol, ¹¹  ‘You are my father.’

They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ¹² 

Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ¹³ 

Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them save you when you are in trouble.

The sad fact is that ¹⁴  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

Jeremiah 3:9

3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ¹⁵  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ¹⁶ 

[44:19]  ¹ tn There is no formal interrogative sign here, but the context seems to indicate these are rhetorical questions. See GKC 473 §150.a.

[44:20]  ² tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ³ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[57:8]  ⁴ tn The precise referent of זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron) in this context is uncertain. Elsewhere the word refers to a memorial or commemorative sign. Here it likely refers to some type of idolatrous symbol.

[57:8]  ⁵ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[57:8]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “from me you uncover.” The translation assumes an emendation of the Piel form גִּלִּית (gillit, “you uncover”), which has no object expressed here, to the Qal גָּלִית (galit, “you depart”).

[57:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “you make wide your bed” (NASB similar).

[57:8]  ⁸ tc Heb “and you [second masculine singular, unless the form be taken as third feminine singular] cut for yourself [feminine singular] from them.” Most English translations retain the MT reading in spite of at least three problems. This section makes significant use of feminine verbs and noun suffixes because of the sexual imagery. The verb in question is likely a 2nd person masculine singular verb. Nevertheless, this kind of fluctuation in gender appears elsewhere (GKC 127-28 §47.k and 462 §144.p; cf. Jer 3:5; Ezek 22:4; 23:32; cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:473, n. 13). Secondly, when this verbal root signifies establishing a covenant, it is normally accompanied by the noun for “covenant” (בְּרִית, bÿrit). Finally, this juxtaposition of the verb “to cut” and “covenant” normally is followed by the preposition “with,” while here it is “from.” The translation above assumes an emendation of וַתִּכְרָת (vatikhrah, “and you cut”) to וְכָרִית (vÿkharit, “and you purchase”) from the root כָּרָה (kharah); see HALOT 497 s.v. II כרה.

[57:8]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text has simply חָזָה (khazah, “gaze”). The adverb “longingly” is interpretive (see the context, where sexual lust is depicted).

[57:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[at] a hand you gaze.” The term יָד (yad, “hand”) probably has the sense of “power, manhood” here, where it is used, as in Ugaritic, as a euphemism for the genitals. See HALOT 387 s.v. I יָד.

[2:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wood…stone…”

[2:27]  ¹² sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”

[2:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”

[2:28]  ¹⁴ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.

[3:9]  ¹⁵ tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.

[3:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”