12. 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.
13. The carpenter stretches out a line.He marks it out with a pencil.He shapes it with planes.He marks it out with compasses,and shapes it like the figure of a man,with the beauty of a man,to reside in a house.
14. He cuts down cedars for himself,and takes the cypress and the oak,and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest.He plants a cypress tree,and the rain nourishes it.
15. Then it will be for a man to burn;and he takes some of it, and warms himself.Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread.Yes, he makes a god, and worships it;he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
16. He burns part of it in the fire.With part of it, he eats meat.He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.Yes, he warms himself,and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.”
17. The rest of it he makes into a god,even his engraved image.He bows down to it and worships,and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!”
18. They don’t know, neither do they consider:for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see;and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
19. No one thinks,neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say,“I have burned part of it in the fire.Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals.I have roasted meat and eaten it.Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination?Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”
20. He feeds on ashes.A deceived heart has turned him aside;and he can’t deliver his soul,nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
21. Remember these things, Jacob and Israel;for you are my servant.I have formed you.You are my servant.Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
22. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions,and, as a cloud, your sins.Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23. Sing, you heavens, for the Lord has done it!Shout, you lower parts of the earth!Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees,for the Lord has redeemed Jacob,and will glorify himself in Israel.
24. the Lord, your Redeemer,and he who formed you from the womb says:“I am the Lord, who makes all things;who alone stretches out the heavens;who spreads out the earth by myself;