19  ^yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

20  ^zHe who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood¹ that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

6  Everyone helps his neighbor

and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

7  ^wThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,

and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,

saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

and they strengthen it with nails ^xso that it cannot be moved.

6  ^tThose who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

^uthen they fall down and worship!

7  ^vThey lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

^wit cannot move from its place.

If one cries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.

18  ^p“What profit is an idol

when its maker has shaped it,

a metal image, ^qa teacher of lies?

For its maker trusts in his own creation

when he makes ^rspeechless idols!

3  ^ffor the customs of the peoples are vanity.¹

^gA tree from the forest is cut down

and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

4  ^hThey decorate it with silver and gold;

ⁱthey fasten it with hammer and nails

so that it cannot move.

5  Their idols² are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,

and ^jthey cannot speak;

^kthey have to be carried,

for they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them,

^lfor they cannot do evil,

neither is it in them to do good.”