Habakkuk 2:18
New International Version
“Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

New Living Translation
“What good is an idol carved by man, or a cast image that deceives you? How foolish to trust in your own creation— a god that can’t even talk!

English Standard Version
“What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!

Berean Standard Bible
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

King James Bible
What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

New King James Version
“What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols?

New American Standard Bible
“What benefit is a carved image when its maker has carved it, Or a cast metal image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.

NASB 1995
“What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.

NASB 1977
“What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols.

Legacy Standard Bible
“What profit is the graven image when its maker has engraved it, Or a molten image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own making When he fashions speechless idols.

Amplified Bible
“What profit is the carved image when its maker has formed it? It is only a cast image, and a teacher of lies. For its maker trusts in his own creation [as his god] When he makes speechless idols.

Christian Standard Bible
What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes worthless idols that cannot speak.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes idols that cannot speak.

American Standard Version
What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he that fashioneth its form trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
What is the profit of the carved image of its carver, its maker or the smelter, and false doctrine, because the heart of its maker trusts upon him to make a dumb idol

Brenton Septuagint Translation
What profit it the graven image, that they have graven it? one has made it a molten work, a false image; for the maker has trusted in his work, to make dumb idols.

Contemporary English Version
What is an idol worth? It's merely a false god. Why trust a speechless image made from wood or metal by human hands?

Douay-Rheims Bible
What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath graven it, a molten, and a false image? because the forger thereof hath trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols.

English Revised Version
What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"What benefit is there in a carved idol when its maker has carved it? What benefit is there in a molded statue, a teacher of lies, when its maker has molded it? The one who formed it trusts himself to make worthless idols that cannot speak.

Good News Translation
What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it--a god that can't even talk!

International Standard Version
"Where is the benefit in owning a carved image, that motivates its maker to carve it? It is only a cast image— a teacher that lies— because the engraver entrusts himself to his carving, crafting speechless idols.

JPS Tanakh 1917
What profiteth the graven image, That the maker thereof hath graven it, Even the molten image, and the teacher of lies; That the maker of his work trusteth therein, To make dumb idols?

Literal Standard Version
What profit has a carved image given | That its former has hewn it? A molten image and teacher of falsehood, | That the former has trusted on his own formation—to make mute idols?

Majority Standard Bible
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

New American Bible
Of what use is the carved image, that its maker should carve it? Or the molten image, the lying oracle, that its very maker should trust in it, and make mute idols?

NET Bible
What good is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? Why would its creator place his trust in it and make such mute, worthless things?

New Revised Standard Version
What use is an idol once its maker has shaped it— a cast image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in what has been made, though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!

New Heart English Bible
"What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

Webster's Bible Translation
What profiteth the graven image that its maker hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?

World English Bible
“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?

Young's Literal Translation
What profit hath a graven image given That its former hath graven it? A molten image and teacher of falsehood, That trusted hath the former on his own formation -- to make dumb idols?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Woe to the Chaldeans
17For your violence against Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of animals will terrify you, because of your bloodshed against men and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers. 18What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it— or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 19Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”…

Cross References
1 Corinthians 12:2
You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

1 Samuel 12:21
Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.

Psalm 97:7
All worshipers of images are put to shame--those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!

Psalm 115:4
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

Psalm 115:8
Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

Isaiah 40:19
To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

Isaiah 41:26
Who has declared this from the beginning, so that we may know, and from times past, so that we may say: 'He was right'? No one announced it, no one foretold it, no one heard your words.


Treasury of Scripture

What profits the graven image that the maker thereof has graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts therein, to make dumb idols?

profiteth.

Isaiah 37:38
And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

Isaiah 42:17
They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

Isaiah 44:9,10
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed…

a teacher.

Jeremiah 10:8,14,15
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities…

Jonah 2:8
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Zechariah 10:2
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.

that the.

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands…

Psalm 135:15-18
The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands…

Isaiah 1:31
And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

maker of his work.

1 Corinthians 12:2
Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

Jump to Previous
Carved Creation Dumb Engraved Faith False. Falsehood Fashioneth Fashions Form Gods Graven Handiwork Idol Idols Image Lies Maker Makes Making Metal Molten Mute Profit Profiteth Shaped Speak Speechless Teacher Teaches Therein Thereof Trusteth Trusts Value Work Workman
Jump to Next
Carved Creation Dumb Engraved Faith False. Falsehood Fashioneth Fashions Form Gods Graven Handiwork Idol Idols Image Lies Maker Makes Making Metal Molten Mute Profit Profiteth Shaped Speak Speechless Teacher Teaches Therein Thereof Trusteth Trusts Value Work Workman
Habakkuk 2
1. Unto Habakkuk, waiting for an answer, is shown that he must wait by faith.
5. The judgment upon the Chaldean for unsatiableness,
9. for covetousness,
12. for cruelty,
15. for drunkenness,
18. and for idolatry.














(18-20) Woe on him who neglects Jehovah to worship dumb idols of his own making.

(18) A teacher of lies.--Not the false prophet, but the idol itself, as pointing out false ways in opposition to God, the teacher of truth.

That the maker . . .--Better, that he who frames his image trusts in it, so as to make dumb idols. Dumb nothings is, perhaps, the literal translation of e'lilim ill'mim, and the words are chosen for their similarity of sound.

Verses 18-20. - 12. The fifth woe: for their idolatry. Verse 18. - The final woe is introduced by an ironical question. The Chaldeans trusted in their gods, and attributed all their success to the divine protection; the prophet asks - What good is this trust? What profiteth the graven image? (comp. Isaiah 44:9, 10; Jeremiah 2:11). What is the good of all the skill and care that the artist has lavished on the idol? (For "graven" or "molten," see note on Nahum 1:14.) And a (even the) teacher of lies. The idol is so termed because it calls itself God and encourages its worshippers in lying delusions, in entire contrast to Jehovah who is Truth. From some variation in reading the LXX. gives, φαντασίαν ψευδῆ, and Jerome, "imaginem falsam" (comp. Jeremiah 10:14). Trusteth therein. The prophet derides the folly which supposes that the idol has powers denied to the man who made it (Isaiah 29:16). Dumb idols; literally, dumb nothings. So 1 Corinthians 12:2, εἴδωλα τὰ ἄφωνα (comp. 1 Corinthians 10:19; Psalm 115:5, etc.). There is a paronomasia in the Hebrew, elilim illemim.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
What
מָֽה־ (māh-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

use
הוֹעִ֣יל (hō·w·‘îl)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3276: To confer or gain profit or benefit

is an idol,
פֶּ֗סֶל (pe·sel)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6459: An idol, image

that
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

a craftsman
יֹֽצְר֔וֹ (yō·ṣə·rōw)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3336: A form, framing, purpose

should carve it—
פְסָלוֹ֙ (p̄ə·sā·lōw)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6458: To hew, hew into shape

[or] an image,
מַסֵּכָ֖ה (mas·sê·ḵāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4541: A pouring over, fusion of metal, a libation, league, a coverlet

a teacher
וּמ֣וֹרֶה (ū·mō·w·reh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 3384: To flow as water, to lay, throw, to point out, to teach

of lies?
שָּׁ֑קֶר (šā·qer)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8267: Deception, disappointment, falsehood

For
כִּ֣י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

its maker
יֹצֵ֤ר (yō·ṣêr)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 3335: To mould into a, form, as a, potter, to determine

trusts
בָטַ֞ח (ḇā·ṭaḥ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 982: To trust, be confident, sure

in his own creation;
יִצְרוֹ֙ (yiṣ·rōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3335: To mould into a, form, as a, potter, to determine

he makes
לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת (la·‘ă·śō·wṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 6213: To do, make

idols
אֱלִילִ֥ים (’ĕ·lî·lîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 457: Good for, nothing, by anal, vain, vanity, an idol

that cannot speak.
אִלְּמִֽים׃ (’il·lə·mîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 483: Mute (unable to speak)


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OT Prophets: Habakkuk 2:18 What value does the engraved image have (Hab Hb)
Habakkuk 2:17
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