The Bible › Bible in Basic English › Isaiah 40
Isaiah 40:20
The wise workman makes selection of the mulberry-tree of the offering, a wood which will not become soft; so that the image may be fixed to it and not be moved.
Isaiah 40:20 · Bible in Basic English
← PreviousRead Isaiah 40Next →
Isaiah 40:20 in other translations
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.
To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple?
He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
Every translation above is public domain and free to share. Other versions — NIV · ESV · NKJV · NLT · NASB · CSB · AMP — are copyrighted and open on their publishers’ partner site.
In context
17 All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.
18 Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?
19 The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
20 The wise workman makes selection of the mulberry-tree of the offering, a wood which will not become soft; so that the image may be fixed to it and not be moved.
21 Have you no knowledge of it? has it not come to your ears? has not news of it been given to you from the first? has it not been clear to you from the time when the earth was placed on its base?
22 It is he who is seated over the arch of the earth, and the people in it are as small as locusts; by him the heavens are stretched out like an arch, and made ready like a tent for a living-place.
23 He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.
Read Isaiah 40 in the app The whole chapter