Isaiah 44:10
in Isaiah 44Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?
KJV
Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
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This verse in Isaiah 44
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Who hath formed a god - The Septuagint reads this verse in connection with the close of the previous verse, ‘But they shall be ashamed who make a god, and all who sculpture unprofitable things.’ This interpretation also, Lowth, by a change in the Hebrew text on the authority of a manuscript in the Bodleian library, has adopted. This change is made by reading כי kı̂y instead of מי mı̂y in the beginning of the verse. But the authority of the change, being that of a single MS. and the Septuagint, is not sufficient. Nor is it necessary.
This site's exposition
All makers of idols are nothing
on Isaiah 44:9-11
All makers of idols are nothing opens the satire, and the makers become witnesses against their work, Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend. They answer the true witnesses named in verse 8. Verse 11 gathers every workman to stand and answer, and it promises shame for the whole trade.
This site's exposition
casts an idol which profits him nothing
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear sarcasm in the question. A god fashioned by the man who then worships it is a contradiction, and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:4 that an idol is nothing. Barnes rejects the change Lowth made to join this verse to the shame in verse 9.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Isaiah sees that in the ensuing time a very great number of people will arise who all "will be ashamed" and who will cease from their continual error. They will be ashamed and hide their faces. If they persist in their error, however, they will be given over to destruction at the time of judgment. But this word is also for those of us now in the present.
(Verse 6 and following) This is what the Lord, the king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides me. Who is like me? Let him call and declare, and lay out the order for me, since I established the ancient people: what is coming and what will happen, let them declare to them. Do not be afraid, nor be troubled: from that time I have made you hear and announced it; you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me, and a creator whom I do not know? All the idols of the nations are worthless, and the things they love do not profit them. They themselves are witnesses to their own worthlessness, for they do not see or understand, so that they may be put to shame. Who formed a god or cast an idol that is profitable for nothing? Look, all his companions shall be put to shame; the craftsmen are mere men. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together. The blacksmith takes a tool and works it with the coals; he fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He will be hungry and will become weak, he will not drink water, and he will grow weary. The carpenter extends the rule (or the form), he shapes it on the plane, he forms it with angles, and rounds it off with a compass. And he makes an image of a man, like a handsome man dwelling in a house. He cuts down cedars, he takes an oak, and a tree that stood among the woods. He plants a pine, which the rain nourishes, and it becomes fuel for men. He takes from them, and warms himself; he kindles it, and bakes bread. But the rest of it he made into a god and worshipped; he made an idol and bowed down to it. He burned half of it in the fire and cooked meat on it; he roasted a stew and ate it, and then he was satisfied. He warmed himself and said, 'Ah! […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
Who has formed. Here he shows from their formation that they are not gods. And concerning this, he does two things: first, he sets out their formation to exclude their divinity; second, the manner of their formation to show their worthlessness: the smith (Isa 44:12). …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Who hath formed a god,....
We appeal to themselves whether it be not a silly sottish thing to expect any good from gods of their own making: They are their own witnesses, witnesses against themselves, if they would but give their own consciences leave to deal faithfully with them, that they are blind and ignorant in doing thus.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Who . . . ?--Sarcastic question: "How debased the man must be who forms a god!" It is a contradiction in terms. A made god, worshipped by its maker (1Co 8:4)!
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Behold, all his colleagues of that fashioner and molder of graven images, who join him to worship his creation and his molten image, shall be ashamed.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יָצַ֥ר | yatzar | has he formed | H3335 → | 62 times |
| אֵ֖ל | ʾel | a god | H410 → | 241 times |
| וּפֶ֣סֶל | ufesel | and an idol | H6459 → | 31 times |
| נָסָ֑ךְ | nasakh | has he cast? | H5258 → | 25 times |
| לְבִלְתִּ֖י | levilti | to not | H1115 → | 112 times |
| הוֹעִֽיל׃ | hoil | to confer profit | H3276 → | 23 times |
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יָצַ֥רhas he formed
yatzarH3335 →62 times
אֵ֖לa god
ʾelH410 →241 times
וּפֶ֣סֶלand an idol
ufeselH6459 →31 times
נָסָ֑ךְhas he cast?
nasakhH5258 →25 times
לְבִלְתִּ֖יto not
leviltiH1115 →112 times
הוֹעִֽיל׃to confer profit
hoilH3276 →23 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Daniel 3:1King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:19
Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 16:20
Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!”
- Isaiah 46:6
They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
- Habakkuk 2:19
Through
Jeremiah 10:5Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any…
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 12:2
You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 46:7
They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not…
- 1 Corinthians 12:2
Through
1 Corinthians 8:4So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:39
Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
- Ephesians 4:6
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
- Deuteronomy 4:39
Through
Habakkuk 2:18What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 10:8
But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
- Jeremiah 10:8
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:26; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.