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King James Version

Isaiah 40:19

The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Art;   God Continued...;   Idol;   Idolatry;   Readings, Select;   Silver;   Thompson Chain Reference - Arts and Crafts;   False;   Goldsmiths;   Idol;   Idolatry;   Workers in Metals;   Worship, False;   Worship, True and False;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Arts of the;   Gold;   Silver;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Image;   Isaiah;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Idol, idolatry;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Goldsmith;   Graving;   Idol;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Shepherd;   Silver;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Beaten Gold;   God;   Isaiah;   Minerals and Metals;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Omnipotence;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Mem'phis;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Calf, Golden;   Chain;   Text of the Old Testament;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Artisans;   Chains;   Shabbat Naḥamu;   Worship, Idol-;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for November 15;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
An idol?—something that a smelter castsand a metalworker plates with goldand makes silver chains for?
Hebrew Names Version
The image, a workman has cast [it], and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts [for it] silver chains.
English Standard Version
An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
New American Standard Bible
As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
New Century Version
An idol is formed by a craftsman, and a goldsmith covers it with gold and makes silver chains for it.
Amplified Bible
As for the cast image (idol), a metalworker casts it, A goldsmith overlays it with gold And a silversmith casts its silver chains.
World English Bible
The image, a workman has cast [it], and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts [for it] silver chains.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The workeman melteth an image, or the goldsmith beateth it out in golde, or the goldesmith maketh siluer plates.
Legacy Standard Bible
As for the graven images, a craftsman casts it,A goldsmith plates it with gold,And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
Berean Standard Bible
To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
Contemporary English Version
Is an idol at all like God? It is made of bronze with a thin layer of gold, and decorated with silver.
Complete Jewish Bible
An image made by a craftsman, which a goldsmith overlays with gold, for which he then casts silver chains?
Darby Translation
The workman casteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains [for it].
Easy-to-Read Version
No, but some people make statues from rock or wood, and they call them gods. One worker makes a statue. Then another worker covers it with gold and makes silver chains for it.
George Lamsa Translation
Is he an image which the carpenter has made and the goldsmith has overlaid with gold and fastened with silver chains?
Good News Translation
He is not like an idol that workers make, that metalworkers cover with gold and set in a base of silver.
Lexham English Bible
A craftsman pours out the idol, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and he smelts chains of silver.
Literal Translation
The craftsman pours out the casted image, the smelter spreads it with gold; and he casts the chains of silver.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Shal the caruer make him a carued ymage? and shal the goldsmyth couer him with golde, or cast him in to a fourme of syluer plates?
American Standard Version
The image, a workman hath cast it, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth for it silver chains.
Bible in Basic English
The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The image perchance, which the craftsman hath melted, and the goldsmith spread over with gold, the silversmith casting silver chains?
King James Version (1611)
The workeman melteth a grauen image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it ouer with golde, and casteth siluer chaines.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Shall the caruer make hym a carued image? and shall the goldesmith couer hym with golde, or cast hym into a fourme of siluer plates?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, and made it a similitude?
English Revised Version
The graven image, a workman melted it, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth for it silver chains.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether a smyth schal welle togidere an ymage, ether a gold smyth schal figure it in gold, and a worchere in siluer schal diyte it with platis of siluer?
Update Bible Version
The image, a workman has cast [it], and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts [for it] silver chains.
Webster's Bible Translation
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
New English Translation
A craftsman casts an idol; a metalsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it.
New King James Version
The workman molds an image, The goldsmith overspreads it with gold, And the silversmith casts silver chains.
New Living Translation
Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
New Life Bible
An able workman makes a false god. A man who works with gold covers it with gold. And a man who works with silver makes silver chains for it.
New Revised Standard
An idol? —A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The image, hath been cast by an artificer, And a goldsmith, with gold, overlayeth it, - And, chains of silver, he worketh.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
Revised Standard Version
The idol! a workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.
Young's Literal Translation
The graven image poured out hath a artizan, And a refiner with gold spreadeth it over, And chains of silver he is refining.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

Contextual Overview

18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. 21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: 23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. 24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. 25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 37:18, Isaiah 37:19, Isaiah 41:6, Isaiah 41:7, Isaiah 44:10-12, Isaiah 46:6, Isaiah 46:7, Exodus 32:2-4, Judges 17:4, Psalms 115:4-8, Psalms 135:15, Psalms 135:18, Jeremiah 10:3-5, Jeremiah 10:9, Hosea 8:6, Habakkuk 2:18, Habakkuk 2:19

Reciprocal: Exodus 32:3 - General Exodus 32:4 - These Isaiah 44:12 - The smith Jeremiah 10:4 - deck Daniel 3:1 - made Daniel 5:4 - of gold Revelation 9:20 - and idols

Cross-References

Genesis 40:13
Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.
Genesis 40:17
And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
Genesis 40:22
But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Genesis 40:23
Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
Genesis 41:13
And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.
Joshua 8:29
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
Joshua 10:26
And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.
1 Samuel 17:44
And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.
1 Samuel 17:46
This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
2 Samuel 21:6
Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The workman melteth a graven image,.... Or, "the founder"; he melts some sort of metal, as iron, brass, copper, or lead, which he casts into a mould for an image, and afterwards graves, or gets it graved:

and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold; or, "the finer"; he stretches out plates of gold, and covers it with them, so that it looks as if it was made of solid gold, and deceives the eyes of men; such stupidity and vanity are there in mortals to believe that there can be deity in such a piece of workmanship!

and casteth silver chains to put about the graven image, either for ornament, or rather to fasten it to some wall or pillar, that it may stand upright, and may not be taken down and stole away, or blown down with the wind, or fall of itself and be broken; thus ridiculing the weakness of these idols, and the folly of the makers and worshippers of them. The Targum is,

"the silversmith joins silver chains to it.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The workman - The Hebrew word denotes an artificer of any kind, and is applied to one who engraved on wood or stone Exodus 28:2; to a workman in iron, brass, stone, wood Exodus 35:35; Deuteronomy 27:15; or an artisan, or artificer in general. It here refers manifestly to a man who worked in the metals of which idols were commonly made. Those idols were sometimes made of wood, sometimes of clay, but more frequently, as they are at present in India, of metal. It became, undoubtedly, a regular trade or business thus to make idol-gods.

Melteth - Casts or founds.

A graven image - (פסל pesel). This word commonly denotes an image carved or graven from wood Exodus 20:4; Judges 17:3; Isaiah 44:15, Isaiah 44:17; but it is also frequently applied to a molten image, or one that is cast from metals Jeremiah 10:14; Jeremiah 51:17. It is used in this sense here; as there is an incongruity in the idea of casting, or melting a graven image.

And the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold - Idols were frequently overlaid with gold or silver. Those which were in the temples of the gods were probably commonly made in this way, and probably those also which were made for private use, as far as it could be afforded. The word here rendered ‘goldsmith,’ however, does not of necessity man a worker in gold, but a smith in general, or a worker in any kind of metals.

And casteth silver chains - For the idol. These were not to fasten it, but for the purpose of ornament. The general principle seems to have been to decorate their idols with that which was regarded as the highest ornament among the people; and as chains were used in abundance as a part of their personal ornaments among the Orientals (see the notes at Isaiah 3:23), so they made use of the same kind of ornaments for their idols. The idols of the Hindoos now are lavishly decorated in this manner.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 40:19. And casteth silver chains - "And forgeth for it chains of silver."] For צורף tsoreph, the participle, twenty-seven MSS., five ancient, and three editions, read צרף tsaraph, pret. third person.


 
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