Isaiah 44:12-14

International Standard Version

¹² The blacksmith prepares a tool and works in the coals, then^[a] fashions an idol with hammers, working by the strength of his arm. He even becomes hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.

¹³ The carpenter measures it^[b] with a line; he traces its shape with a stylus, then fashions it with planes and shapes it with a compass. He makes the idol like a human figure, with human beauty, to be at home^[c] in a shrine. ¹⁴ He cuts down cedars, or chooses a cypress tree or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. Or he plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow.