5  you who burn with lust among ^ythe oaks,¹

under every green tree,

^zwho slaughter your children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?

3  ^e“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;

he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;

he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers ^fpig’s blood;

he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.

^gThese have chosen their own ways,

and their soul delights in their abominations;

19  ^yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

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.

29  ^dBehold, they are all a delusion;

their works are nothing;

their metal images are empty wind.

17  ^gThey are turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

“You are our gods.”

16  ^tAll of them are put to shame and confounded;

the makers of idols go in confusion together.

17  But Israel is saved by the Lord

with everlasting salvation;

^uyou shall not be put to shame or confounded

to all eternity.

18  ^vFor thus says the Lord,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he ^wdid not create it empty,

^xhe formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

19  ^yI did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

^z‘Seek me in vain.’¹

I the Lord speak ^athe truth;

I declare what is right.

20  ^b“Assemble yourselves and come;

draw near together,

you survivors of the nations!

^cThey have no knowledge

who ^dcarry about their wooden idols,

^eand keep on praying to a god

that cannot save.

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!

5  ^hI declared them to you from of old,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

lest you should say, ^j‘My idol did them,

my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’