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Read›Isaiah›Chapter 44

The LORD Has Chosen Israel

Isaiah 44:12

In 11 translations

BSB
The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.
KJV
The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.with the tongs: or, with an axe
WEB
The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.
ASV
The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
LSV
He has worked iron [with] an axe, || And has worked with coals, || And forms it with hammers, || And works it by his powerful arm, || Indeed, he is hungry, and there is no power, || He does not drink water, and he is wearied.
YLT
He hath wrought iron [with] an axe, And hath wrought with coals, And with hammers doth form it, And doth work it by his powerful arm, Yea, he is hungry, and there is no power, He doth not drink water, and he is wearied.
DBY
The iron-smith [hath] a chisel, and he worketh in the coals, and he fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; — but he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he hath not drunk water, and he is faint.
DRC
The smith hath wrought with his file, with coals, and with hammers he hath formed it, and hath wrought with the strength of his arm: he shall hunger and faint, he shall drink no water, and shall be weary.
GNV
The smith taketh an instrument, and worketh in the coles, and facioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his armes: yea, he is an hungred, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
JPS
The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
LXXE
For the artificer sharpens the iron; he fashions the idol with an axe, and fixes it with an awl, and fashions it with the strength of his arm: and he will be hungry and weak, and will drink no water.

Word by word Hebrew · tap a word

Words in brackets are English the glossers added; the Hebrew has no word for them, and they can carry a choice of tense or meaning.

Original-language editions

WLC
חָרַ֤שׁ בַּרְזֶל֙ מַֽעֲצָ֔ד וּפָעַל֙ בַּפֶּחָ֔ם וּבַמַּקָּב֖וֹת יִצְּרֵ֑הוּ וַיִּפְעָלֵ֨הוּ֙ בִּזְר֣וֹעַ כֹּח֔וֹ גַּם־רָעֵב֙ וְאֵ֣ין כֹּ֔חַ לֹא־שָׁ֥תָה מַ֖יִם וַיִּיעָֽף׃
LXX-Br
Ὅτι ὤξυνε τέκτων σίδηρον· σκεπάρνῳ εἰργάσατο αὐτὸ, καὶ ἐν τερέτρῳ ἔστησεν αὐτὸ, καὶ εἰργάσατο αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ βραχίονι τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, καὶ πεινάσει, καὶ ἀσθενήσει, καὶ οὐ μὴ πίῃ ὕδωρ.

Who and where

◆ Prophecies of Isaiah

People, places and events the Theographic dataset links to this verse.

In the reference works topics that cite this verse

From public-domain Bible dictionaries and topical indexes (1884–1915).

Cross-references most cited first

  • Isaiah 40:19To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
  • Isaiah 41:6–7Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it…
  • Isaiah 46:6–7They 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. They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its…
  • Habakkuk 2:13Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
  • Exodus 32:8How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who…
  • Jeremiah 10:3–11For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman. They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so…
  • Exodus 32:4He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

From the OpenBible.info cross-reference set (votes from readers; not every link is a quotation or allusion).

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