Psalms 115:4-8

115:4 Their ¹  idols are made of silver and gold –

they are man-made. ² 

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. ³ 

115:8 Those who make them will end up ⁴  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

Isaiah 2:8-9

2:8 Their land is full of worthless idols;

they worship ⁵  the product of their own hands,

what their own fingers have fashioned.

2:9 Men bow down to them in homage,

they lie flat on the ground in worship. ⁶ 

Don’t spare them! ⁷ 

Isaiah 44:17-20

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. ⁸ 

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?’ ⁹ 

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ¹⁰ 

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?’ ¹¹ 

Isaiah 46:5-8

46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?

Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse

and weigh out silver on the scale ¹² 

hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.

They then bow down and worship it.

46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;

they put it in its place and it just stands there;

it does not ¹³  move from its place.

Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;

it does not deliver him from his distress.

46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! ¹⁴ 

Think about it, you rebels! ¹⁵ 

Micah 5:13

5:13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst;

you will no longer worship what your own hands made.

[115:4]  ¹ tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).

[115:4]  ² tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[115:7]  ³ 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]  ⁵ 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.”

[2:8]  ⁷ tn Or “bow down to” (NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “men bow down, men are low.” Since the verbs שָׁחָח (shakhakh) and שָׁפַל (shafal) are used later in this discourse to describe how God will humiliate proud men (see vv. 11, 17), some understand v. 9a as a prediction of judgment, “men will be brought down, men will be humiliated.” However, these prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive appear to carry on the description that precedes and are better taken with the accusation. They draw attention to the fact that human beings actually bow down and worship before the lifeless products of their own hands.

[2:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “don’t lift them up.” The idiom “lift up” (נָשָׂא with לְ, nasa’ with preposition lamed) can mean “spare, forgive” (see Gen 18:24, 26). Here the idiom plays on the preceding verbs. The idolaters are bowed low as they worship their false gods; the prophet asks God not to “lift them up.”

[44:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

[44:19]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[46:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.

[46:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.

[46:8]  ²¹ tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.

[46:8]  ²² tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”