Isaiah 44:10
New International Version
Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing?

New Living Translation
Who but a fool would make his own god— an idol that cannot help him one bit?

English Standard Version
Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?

Berean Standard Bible
Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

King James Bible
Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

New King James Version
Who would form a god or mold an image That profits him nothing?

New American Standard Bible
Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no benefit?

NASB 1995
Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit?

NASB 1977
Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit?

Legacy Standard Bible
Who has formed a god or cast a graven image to no profit?

Amplified Bible
Who has made a god or cast an idol which is profitable for nothing?

Christian Standard Bible
Who makes a god or casts a metal image that benefits no one?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Who makes a god or casts a metal image for no profit?

American Standard Version
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?

Contemporary English Version
Why make an idol or an image that can't do a thing?

English Revised Version
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Nothing comes from making gods or casting metal idols.

Good News Translation
It does no good to make a metal image to worship as a god!

International Standard Version
Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing?

Majority Standard Bible
Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

NET Bible
Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless?

New Heart English Bible
Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

Webster's Bible Translation
Who hath formed a god, or cast a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

World English Bible
Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Who has formed a god, "" And poured out a molten image—not profitable?

Young's Literal Translation
Who hath formed a god, And a molten image poured out -- not profitable?

Smith's Literal Translation
Who formed a god and a carved molten image, profiting for nothing?
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Who hath formed a god, and made a graven thing that is profitable for nothing?

Catholic Public Domain Version
Who has formed a god or cast a molten image, which is useful for nothing?

New American Bible
Who would fashion a god or cast an idol, that is of no use?

New Revised Standard Version
Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good?
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Therefore let them be ashamed, those who make gods or graven and molten images that are profitable for nothing.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Because of this, those who are making gods and are forming molten images shall be ashamed, because there is no profit in them
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image That is profitable for nothing?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
that form a god, and all that grave worthless things:

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The LORD has Chosen Israel
9All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame. 10Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing? 11Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame.…

Cross References
Jeremiah 10:14-15
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. / They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. / They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; / they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ...

Habakkuk 2:18-19
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. / Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

Jeremiah 51:17-18
Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. / They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

Deuteronomy 4:28
And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

1 Corinthians 8:4-6
So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. / For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), / yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.

Psalm 135:15-18
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. / They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; / they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. ...

Romans 1:22-23
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, / and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

1 Kings 18:26-29
And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made. / At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!” / So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them. ...

1 Corinthians 10:19-20
Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? / No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

Exodus 20:4-5
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. / You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Acts 17:29
Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

2 Kings 19:18
They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.

Revelation 9:20
Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

Hosea 8:4-6
They set up kings, but not by Me. They make princes, but without My approval. With their silver and gold they make themselves idols, to their own destruction. / He has rejected your calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them. How long will they be incapable of innocence? / For this thing is from Israel—a craftsman made it, and it is not God. It will be broken to pieces, that calf of Samaria.


Treasury of Scripture

Who has formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

1 Kings 12:28
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 10:5
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Daniel 3:1,14
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon…

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Cast Casts Fashioned Fashions Formed Graven Idol Image Makes Metal Molds Molten Poured Profit Profitable Shapes
Isaiah 44
1. God comforts the church with his promises
7. The vanity of idols
9. And folly of idol makers
21. He exhorts to praise God for his redemption and omnipotence














Who fashions a god
The phrase "Who fashions a god" challenges the absurdity of creating a deity. The Hebrew word for "fashions" is "יָצַר" (yatsar), which means to form or shape, often used in the context of a potter shaping clay. This imagery highlights the folly of humans attempting to create a divine being, contrasting the Creator God who formed the universe. Historically, the Israelites were surrounded by cultures that crafted physical representations of their gods, yet the prophet Isaiah underscores the futility of such actions. The true God is not fashioned by human hands but is the eternal Creator.

or casts an idol
The term "casts an idol" refers to the process of making a molten image, often from metal. The Hebrew word "נָסַךְ" (nasak) means to pour out or cast, typically in a mold. This practice was common in ancient Near Eastern cultures, where idols were made to represent deities. Isaiah's critique is not just of the physical act but of the spiritual blindness it represents. The casting of idols is a direct violation of the first two commandments, which prohibit the making of graven images. This phrase serves as a reminder of the spiritual adultery involved in idol worship, where trust is misplaced in man-made objects rather than in the living God.

which profits him nothing
The phrase "which profits him nothing" emphasizes the futility and emptiness of idol worship. The Hebrew word "יָעַל" (ya'al) means to profit or benefit. Isaiah points out the irrationality of investing time, resources, and devotion into something that yields no real benefit. In a broader theological context, this highlights the contrast between the living God, who provides and sustains life, and lifeless idols, which offer no help or hope. Historically, the Israelites experienced the consequences of idolatry, leading to spiritual decay and eventual exile. This phrase serves as a timeless warning against placing trust in anything other than God, who alone is the source of true profit and blessing.

Verse 10. - Who hath... molten a graven image? Metal idols were mostly cast in the first instance, and then finished off with a graving-tool. "Who hath molten" means "who has been so foolish as to do so - to take so much trouble about a thing which cannot possibly profit any one?"

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Who
מִֽי־ (mî-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

fashions
יָצַ֥ר (yā·ṣar)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3335: To mould into a, form, as a, potter, to determine

a god
אֵ֖ל (’êl)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 410: Strength -- as adjective, mighty, the Almighty

or casts
נָסָ֑ךְ (nā·sāḵ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5258: To pour out, a libation, to cast, to anoint a, king

an idol
וּפֶ֣סֶל (ū·p̄e·sel)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6459: An idol, image

which profits him
הוֹעִֽיל׃ (hō·w·‘îl)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3276: To confer or gain profit or benefit

nothing?
לְבִלְתִּ֖י (lə·ḇil·tî)
Preposition-l
Strong's 1115: A failure of, not, except, without, unless, besides, because not, until


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 44:10 Who has fashioned a god or molds (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 44:9
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