Psalms 94:7-9

94:7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;

the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.” ¹ 

94:8 Take notice of this, ²  you ignorant people! ³ 

You fools, when will you ever understand?

94:9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?

Does the one who forms the human eye not see? ⁴ 

Psalms 106:20

106:20 They traded their majestic God ⁵ 

for the image of an ox that eats grass.

Psalms 115:4-8

115:4 Their ⁶  idols are made of silver and gold –

they are man-made. ⁷ 

115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see,

115:6 ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell,

115:7 hands, but cannot touch,

feet, but cannot walk.

They cannot even clear their throats. ⁸ 

115:8 Those who make them will end up ⁹  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

Isaiah 40:12-18

The Lord is Incomparable

40:12 Who has measured out the waters ¹⁰  in the hollow of his hand,

or carefully ¹¹  measured the sky, ¹² 

or carefully weighed ¹³  the soil of the earth,

or weighed the mountains in a balance,

or the hills on scales? ¹⁴ 

40:13 Who comprehends ¹⁵  the mind ¹⁶  of the Lord,

or gives him instruction as his counselor? ¹⁷ 

40:14 From whom does he receive directions? ¹⁸ 

Who ¹⁹  teaches him the correct way to do things, ²⁰ 

or imparts knowledge to him,

or instructs him in skillful design? ²¹ 

40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales.

He lifts ²²  the coastlands ²³  as if they were dust.

40:16 Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; ²⁴ 

its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. ²⁵ 

40:17 All the nations are insignificant before him;

they are regarded as absolutely nothing. ²⁶ 

40:18 To whom can you compare God?

To what image can you liken him?

Isaiah 44:9-20

44:9 All who form idols are nothing;

the things in which they delight are worthless.

Their witnesses cannot see;

they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol

that will prove worthless? ²⁷ 

44:11 Look, all his associates ²⁸  will be put to shame;

the craftsmen are mere humans. ²⁹ 

Let them all assemble and take their stand!

They will panic and be put to shame.

44:12 A blacksmith works with his tool ³⁰ 

and forges metal over the coals.

He forms it ³¹  with hammers;

he makes it with his strong arm.

He gets hungry and loses his energy; ³² 

he drinks no water and gets tired.

44:13 A carpenter takes measurements; ³³ 

he marks out an outline of its form; ³⁴ 

he scrapes ³⁵  it with chisels,

and marks it with a compass.

He patterns it after the human form, ³⁶ 

like a well-built human being,

and puts it in a shrine. ³⁷ 

44:14 He cuts down cedars

and acquires a cypress ³⁸  or an oak.

He gets ³⁹  trees from the forest;

he plants a cedar ⁴⁰  and the rain makes it grow.

44:15 A man uses it to make a fire; ⁴¹ 

he takes some of it and warms himself.

Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.

Then he makes a god and worships it;

he makes an idol and bows down to it. ⁴² 

44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire –

over that half he cooks ⁴³  meat;

he roasts a meal and fills himself.

Yes, he warms himself and says,

‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’

44:17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol;

he bows down to it and worships it.

He prays to it, saying,

‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’

44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,

for their eyes are blind and cannot see;

their minds do not discern. ⁴⁴ 

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?’ ⁴⁵ 

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ⁴⁶ 

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?’ ⁴⁷ 

Habakkuk 2:19-20

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ⁴⁸  –

he who says ⁴⁹  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ⁵⁰ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

2:20 But the Lord is in his majestic palace. ⁵¹ 

The whole earth is speechless in his presence!” ⁵² 

Romans 1:20-23

1:20 For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people ⁵³  are without excuse. 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ⁵⁴  were darkened. 1:22 Although they claimed ⁵⁵  to be wise, they became fools 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings ⁵⁶  or birds or four-footed animals ⁵⁷  or reptiles.

[94:7]  ¹ tn Heb “does not understand.”

[94:8]  ² tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.

[94:8]  ³ tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”

[94:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “The one who plants an ear, does he not hear? The one who forms an eye, does he not see?”

[106:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “their glory.” According to an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition, the text originally read “his glory” or “my glory.” In Jer 2:11 the Lord states that his people (Israel) exchanged “their glory” (a reference to the Lord) for worthless idols.

[115:4]  ⁶ tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).

[115:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[115:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).

[115:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”

[40:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.

[40:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת).

[40:12]  ¹² tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[40:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”

[40:12]  ¹⁴ sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions of v. 12 is “no one but the Lord. The Lord, and no other, created the world. Like a merchant weighing out silver or commodities on a scale, the Lord established the various components of the physical universe in precise proportions.

[40:13]  ¹⁵ tn Perhaps the verb is used metonymically here in the sense of “advises” (note the following line).

[40:13]  ¹⁶ tn In this context רוּחַ (ruakh) likely refers to the Lord’s “mind,” or mental faculties, rather than his personal Spirit (see BDB 925 s.v.).

[40:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “or [as] the man of his counsel causes him to know?”

[40:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “With whom did he consult, so that he gave discernment to him?”

[40:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and taught him.” The vav (ו) consecutive with prefixed verbal form continues the previous line. The translation employs an interrogative pronoun for stylistic reasons.

[40:14]  ²⁰ tn The phrase אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּט (’orakh mishpat) could be translated “path of justice” (so NASB, NRSV), but in this context, where creative ability and skill is in view, the phrase is better understood in the sense of “the way that is proper or fitting” (see BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6); cf. NIV, NCV “the right way.”

[40:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “or the way of understanding causes him to know?”

[40:15]  ²² tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”

[40:15]  ²³ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).

[40:16]  ²⁴ tn The words “for a sacrifice” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:16]  ²⁵ sn The point is that not even the Lebanon forest could supply enough wood and animals for an adequate sacrifice to the Lord.

[40:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “[as derived] from nothing and unformed.”

[44:10]  ²⁷ tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”

[44:11]  ²⁸ tn The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.

[44:11]  ²⁹ sn The point seems to be this: If the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”

[44:12]  ³⁰ tn The noun מַעֲצָד (ma’atsad), which refers to some type of tool used for cutting, occurs only here and in Jer 10:3. See HALOT 615 s.v. מַעֲצָד.

[44:12]  ³¹ tn Some English versions take the pronoun “it” to refer to an idol being fashioned by the blacksmith (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV). NLT understands the referent to be “a sharp tool,” which is then used by the carpenter in the following verse to carve an idol from wood.

[44:12]  ³² tn Heb “and there is no strength”; NASB “his strength fails.”

[44:13]  ³³ tn Heb “stretches out a line” (ASV similar); NIV “measures with a line.”

[44:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he makes an outline with the [?].” The noun שֶׂרֶד (shered) occurs only here; it apparently refers to some type of tool or marker. Cf. KJV “with a line”; ASV “with a pencil”; NAB, NRSV “with a stylus”; NASB “with red chalk”; NIV “with a marker.”

[44:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “works” (so NASB) or “fashions” (so NRSV); NIV “he roughs it out.”

[44:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “he makes it like the pattern of a man”; NAB “like a man in appearance.”

[44:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “like the glory of man to sit [in] a house”; NIV “that it may dwell in a shrine.”

[44:14]  ³⁸ tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).

[44:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).

[44:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”

[44:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and it becomes burning [i.e., firewood] for a man”; NAB “to serve man for fuel.”

[44:15]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps, “them.”

[44:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “eats” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “roasts.”

[44:18]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

[44:19]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[2:19]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ⁴⁹ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ⁵⁰ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).

[2:20]  ⁵¹ tn Or “holy temple.” The Lord’s heavenly palace, rather than the earthly temple, is probably in view here (see Ps 11:4; Mic 1:2-3). The Hebrew word ֹקדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) here refers to the sovereign transcendence associated with his palace.

[2:20]  ⁵² tn Or “Be quiet before him, all the earth!”

[1:20]  ⁵³ tn Grk “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:21]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “heart.”

[1:22]  ⁵⁵ tn The participle φάσκοντες (faskonte") is used concessively here.

[1:23]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God in likeness of an image of corruptible man.” Here there is a wordplay on the Greek terms ἄφθαρτος (afqarto", “immortal, imperishable, incorruptible”) and φθαρτός (fqarto", “mortal, corruptible, subject to decay”).

[1:23]  ⁵⁷ sn Possibly an allusion to Ps 106:19-20.