for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

众民的风俗是虚空的；他们在树林中用斧子砍伐一棵树，匠人用手工造成偶像。

万民的习俗是虚空的；偶像不过是从树林中砍来的木头，是匠人用斧头做成的手工。

万民的习俗是虚空的；偶像不过是从树林中砍来的木头，是匠人用斧头做成的手工。

他们信奉的毫无价值，他们从林中砍一棵树，工匠用木头雕刻偶像，

因为万民所信奉的都是虚空，只是从林中砍下的树木，是匠人用凿刀制成的产品。

眾民的風俗是虛空的；他們在樹林中用斧子砍伐一棵樹，匠人用手工造成偶像。

萬民的習俗是虛空的；偶像不過是從樹林中砍來的木頭，是匠人用斧頭做成的手工。

萬民的習俗是虛空的；偶像不過是從樹林中砍來的木頭，是匠人用斧頭做成的手工。

他們信奉的毫無價值，他們從林中砍一棵樹，工匠用木頭雕刻偶像，

因為萬民所信奉的都是虛空，只是從林中砍下的樹木，是匠人用鑿刀製成的產品。

因為萬族之民的規例都是虛空：因為偶像不過是一棵樹、人從樹林中砍下來，匠人的手用斧子製成的作品。

列邦之例虛偽、有人由林伐木、匠人以斧製之、

億兆之禮儀虛偽、有入林叢、以斧伐木、以工治之、

蓋異邦人之禮儀虛偽、所敬者乃木、伐於林中、工師以斧製之、

For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.

The practices of these nations are worthless. People cut a tree out of the forest. A skilled worker shapes the wood with a sharp tool.

Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.

for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

For the customs of the peoples are futile; For it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

For the customs of the peoples are futile; For one cuts a tree from the forest, The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.

For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.

for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

For the customs of the people[ are] vain: for[ one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

For the religion of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools.

For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.

So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”

They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

“ Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.

All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says,“ Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!”And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says,“ Deliver me, for you are my god!”They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say,“ Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say,“ Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

“ What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.

They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.I have spurned your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence?For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

Thus says the Lord:“ What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,“ My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

“ And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying,“ O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying,“ Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them.