18  ^sTo whom then will you liken God,

or what likeness compare with him?

19  An idol! A ^tcraftsman casts it,

and a ^ugoldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

20  He 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 ^vnot move.

21  Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who ^wstretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them ^xlike a tent to dwell in;

23  who brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25  To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.