Isaiah / The Folly of Idols and God's Uniqueness

The Folly of Idols and God's Uniqueness

Isaiah 44:6-23

Chapter 44

⁶ Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last, and apart from me there is no God." ⁷ And who like me will call and tell it and set it in order for Leah from my appointed ones with the everlasting covenant and signs, and those that will come—they will tell it to them. ⁸ Do not fear or dread—have we not from then caused you to hear and declared it, and you are my witnesses: Is there a God besides me? And there is no Rock that I have not known. ⁹ All who form an idol are nothing; their delights will not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, so that they are put to shame. ¹⁰ Who is it that God forms, carves, and pours out so as not to profit? ¹¹ Behold, all his associates will be ashamed, and the craftsmen—they from humanity will gather, all of them. They will stand; they will be afraid; they will be ashamed together. ¹² The iron-smith with an axe, and he fashions it with coal, and with hammers he forms it, and he works it with the arm of his strength—also he hungers, and there is no strength; he does not drink water and he grows weary. ¹³ The cultic woodworker stretches out a line; he marks it off for him with a marking tool. He makes it for him with chisels, and with a compass he marks it off for him, and he makes it like the cultic pattern of Huram, like the cultic glory of Adam, to dwell in the house. ¹⁴ He cuts cedars for himself, and he takes plane-tree and oak, and he strengthens himself among the trees of the forest; he plants fir and cypress—it grows great. ¹⁵ And it becomes for Adam for burning, and he takes from them and he warms himself. Indeed he makes it drink, and he bakes bread. Indeed he makes a god and he prostrates himself; he makes it an idol and he bows down to them. ¹⁶ He burns half of it in the fire; on half of it he eats flesh, he roasts a roast and is satisfied; moreover he warms himself and says, "Ah, my warmth! I have seen light." ¹⁷ And he made its remnant for God. To his idol he bows down to it, and he bows himself, and he prays to it and he says, "Deliver me, for you are my God." ¹⁸ They did not know, and they will not understand, for he has plastered over the visions of their eyes from understanding their heart. ¹⁹ And he does not return to his heart, and there is no knowledge and no understanding, saying, "Half of it I burned in fire, and even I baked bread on its coals; I roasted flesh and I ate, and its remainder for an abomination I make—a block of wood—I bow down." ²⁰ A companion of ashes—the heart has deceived him; it has misled him—and he does not deliver his vital life force, nor does he say, “Is there not deception in my right side?” ²¹ Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not forget me. ²² I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. ²³ Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; burst into song, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it; for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and in Israel he will glorify himself.