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 41:23-24

41:23 Predict how future events will turn out, ⁵ 

so we might know you are gods.

Yes, do something good or bad,

so we might be frightened and in awe. ⁶ 

41:24 Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;

the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting. ⁷ 

Isaiah 44:9-10

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? ⁸ 

Isaiah 45:20

45:20 Gather together and come!

Approach together, you refugees from the nations!

Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,

those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

Isaiah 46:7

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 ⁹  move from its place.

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

it does not deliver him from his distress.

Jeremiah 10:15

10:15 They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked. ¹⁰ 

When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

[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]  ⁴ 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.”

[41:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “Declare the coming things, with respect to the end.”

[41:23]  ⁶ tc The translation assumes the Qere (וְנִרְאֶה [vÿnir’eh], from יָרֵא [yare’], “be afraid”).

[41:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “an object of disgust [is he who] chooses you.”

[44:10]  ⁸ tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”

[46:7]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.

[10:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “objects of mockery.”