They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they will have no insight.
No one causes this to return to his heart, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination; I fall down before a block of wood!”
Every man is senseless, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images; For his molten images are a lie, And there is no breath in them.
Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to Me And not their face; But in the time when their evil comes they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’
“For My people are ignorant fools, They know Me not; They are simpleminded children And have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they do not know.”
My people ask their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand declares to them; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.
¶“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.
For the teraphim speak wickedness, And the diviners behold false visions And speak worthless dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people journey like sheep; They are afflicted because there is no shepherd.