“To whom will you liken me?
Can you make me equal?
Can you compare me?
Do you think that we are all alike?
Those who lavish gold
From the purse,
They hire a goldsmith
To make it into a god.
Those who weigh out silver
On the scales,
They hire a silversmith,
To make it into a god.
Then they fall down.
They worship it.
They lift it to their shoulders.
They carry it.
They set it in its place.
It stands there.
It cannot move
From its place.
If one cries to it,
It does not answer.
It does not save anyone
From trouble.”
Second Isaiah continues with this theme of the useless idols and how incomparable they are to Yahweh. Once again, Yahweh defends himself. How can you say that these false idols and Yahweh are the same? How could you even make a comparison? Then Yahweh repeated his thought about the uselessness of human made idols, even though they are made of lavish gold and silver. After the goldsmith or silversmith has made their idols, they would bow down and worship before it, knowing that they had just made it. Then they would carefully carry the idol on their shoulders to set it in a place where it could not move. If anyone went to cry before this idol, it could not answer or save that person from their troubles.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 