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New Living Translation

Isaiah 40:19

Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Art;   God Continued...;   Idol;   Idolatry;   Readings, Select;   Silver;   Thompson Chain Reference - Arts and Crafts;   False;   Goldsmiths;   Idol;   Idolatry;   Workers in Metals;   Worship, False;   Worship, True and False;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Arts of the;   Gold;   Silver;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Image;   Isaiah;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Idol, idolatry;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Goldsmith;   Graving;   Idol;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Shepherd;   Silver;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Beaten Gold;   God;   Isaiah;   Minerals and Metals;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Omnipotence;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Mem'phis;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Calf, Golden;   Chain;   Text of the Old Testament;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Artisans;   Chains;   Shabbat Naḥamu;   Worship, Idol-;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for November 15;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
An idol?—something that a smelter castsand a metalworker plates with goldand makes silver chains for?
Hebrew Names Version
The image, a workman has cast [it], and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts [for it] silver chains.
King James Version
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
English Standard Version
An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
New American Standard Bible
As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
New Century Version
An idol is formed by a craftsman, and a goldsmith covers it with gold and makes silver chains for it.
Amplified Bible
As for the cast image (idol), a metalworker casts it, A goldsmith overlays it with gold And a silversmith casts its silver chains.
World English Bible
The image, a workman has cast [it], and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts [for it] silver chains.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The workeman melteth an image, or the goldsmith beateth it out in golde, or the goldesmith maketh siluer plates.
Legacy Standard Bible
As for the graven images, a craftsman casts it,A goldsmith plates it with gold,And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
Berean Standard Bible
To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
Contemporary English Version
Is an idol at all like God? It is made of bronze with a thin layer of gold, and decorated with silver.
Complete Jewish Bible
An image made by a craftsman, which a goldsmith overlays with gold, for which he then casts silver chains?
Darby Translation
The workman casteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains [for it].
Easy-to-Read Version
No, but some people make statues from rock or wood, and they call them gods. One worker makes a statue. Then another worker covers it with gold and makes silver chains for it.
George Lamsa Translation
Is he an image which the carpenter has made and the goldsmith has overlaid with gold and fastened with silver chains?
Good News Translation
He is not like an idol that workers make, that metalworkers cover with gold and set in a base of silver.
Lexham English Bible
A craftsman pours out the idol, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and he smelts chains of silver.
Literal Translation
The craftsman pours out the casted image, the smelter spreads it with gold; and he casts the chains of silver.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Shal the caruer make him a carued ymage? and shal the goldsmyth couer him with golde, or cast him in to a fourme of syluer plates?
American Standard Version
The image, a workman hath cast it, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth for it silver chains.
Bible in Basic English
The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The image perchance, which the craftsman hath melted, and the goldsmith spread over with gold, the silversmith casting silver chains?
King James Version (1611)
The workeman melteth a grauen image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it ouer with golde, and casteth siluer chaines.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Shall the caruer make hym a carued image? and shall the goldesmith couer hym with golde, or cast hym into a fourme of siluer plates?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, and made it a similitude?
English Revised Version
The graven image, a workman melted it, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth for it silver chains.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether a smyth schal welle togidere an ymage, ether a gold smyth schal figure it in gold, and a worchere in siluer schal diyte it with platis of siluer?
Update Bible Version
The image, a workman has cast [it], and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts [for it] silver chains.
Webster's Bible Translation
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
New English Translation
A craftsman casts an idol; a metalsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it.
New King James Version
The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains.
New Life Bible
An able workman makes a false god. A man who works with gold covers it with gold. And a man who works with silver makes silver chains for it.
New Revised Standard
An idol? —A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The image, hath been cast by an artificer, And a goldsmith, with gold, overlayeth it, - And, chains of silver, he worketh.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
Revised Standard Version
The idol! a workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.
Young's Literal Translation
The graven image poured out hath a artizan, And a refiner with gold spreadeth it over, And chains of silver he is refining.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

Contextual Overview

18 To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? 19 Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? 20 Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won't decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won't fall down! 21 Haven't you heard? Don't you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God— the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant? 22 God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. 23 He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing. 24 They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff. 25 "To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One. 26 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 37:18, Isaiah 37:19, Isaiah 41:6, Isaiah 41:7, Isaiah 44:10-12, Isaiah 46:6, Isaiah 46:7, Exodus 32:2-4, Judges 17:4, Psalms 115:4-8, Psalms 135:15, Psalms 135:18, Jeremiah 10:3-5, Jeremiah 10:9, Hosea 8:6, Habakkuk 2:18, Habakkuk 2:19

Reciprocal: Exodus 32:3 - General Exodus 32:4 - These Isaiah 44:12 - The smith Jeremiah 10:4 - deck Daniel 3:1 - made Daniel 5:4 - of gold Revelation 9:20 - and idols

Cross-References

Genesis 40:13
Within three days Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as his chief cup-bearer.
Genesis 40:17
The top basket contained all kinds of pastries for Pharaoh, but the birds came and ate them from the basket on my head."
Genesis 40:22
But Pharaoh impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had predicted when he interpreted his dream.
Genesis 40:23
Pharaoh's chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.
Genesis 41:13
And everything happened just as he had predicted. I was restored to my position as cup-bearer, and the chief baker was executed and impaled on a pole."
Joshua 8:29
Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.
Joshua 10:26
Then Joshua killed each of the five kings and impaled them on five sharpened poles, where they hung until evening.
1 Samuel 17:44
"Come over here, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!" Goliath yelled.
1 Samuel 17:46
Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!
2 Samuel 21:6
So let seven of Saul's sons be handed over to us, and we will execute them before the Lord at Gibeon, on the mountain of the Lord ." "All right," the king said, "I will do it."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The workman melteth a graven image,.... Or, "the founder"; he melts some sort of metal, as iron, brass, copper, or lead, which he casts into a mould for an image, and afterwards graves, or gets it graved:

and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold; or, "the finer"; he stretches out plates of gold, and covers it with them, so that it looks as if it was made of solid gold, and deceives the eyes of men; such stupidity and vanity are there in mortals to believe that there can be deity in such a piece of workmanship!

and casteth silver chains to put about the graven image, either for ornament, or rather to fasten it to some wall or pillar, that it may stand upright, and may not be taken down and stole away, or blown down with the wind, or fall of itself and be broken; thus ridiculing the weakness of these idols, and the folly of the makers and worshippers of them. The Targum is,

"the silversmith joins silver chains to it.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The workman - The Hebrew word denotes an artificer of any kind, and is applied to one who engraved on wood or stone Exodus 28:2; to a workman in iron, brass, stone, wood Exodus 35:35; Deuteronomy 27:15; or an artisan, or artificer in general. It here refers manifestly to a man who worked in the metals of which idols were commonly made. Those idols were sometimes made of wood, sometimes of clay, but more frequently, as they are at present in India, of metal. It became, undoubtedly, a regular trade or business thus to make idol-gods.

Melteth - Casts or founds.

A graven image - (פסל pesel). This word commonly denotes an image carved or graven from wood Exodus 20:4; Judges 17:3; Isaiah 44:15, Isaiah 44:17; but it is also frequently applied to a molten image, or one that is cast from metals Jeremiah 10:14; Jeremiah 51:17. It is used in this sense here; as there is an incongruity in the idea of casting, or melting a graven image.

And the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold - Idols were frequently overlaid with gold or silver. Those which were in the temples of the gods were probably commonly made in this way, and probably those also which were made for private use, as far as it could be afforded. The word here rendered ‘goldsmith,’ however, does not of necessity man a worker in gold, but a smith in general, or a worker in any kind of metals.

And casteth silver chains - For the idol. These were not to fasten it, but for the purpose of ornament. The general principle seems to have been to decorate their idols with that which was regarded as the highest ornament among the people; and as chains were used in abundance as a part of their personal ornaments among the Orientals (see the notes at Isaiah 3:23), so they made use of the same kind of ornaments for their idols. The idols of the Hindoos now are lavishly decorated in this manner.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 40:19. And casteth silver chains - "And forgeth for it chains of silver."] For צורף tsoreph, the participle, twenty-seven MSS., five ancient, and three editions, read צרף tsaraph, pret. third person.


 
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