44:9 All who form idols are nothing;
the things in which they delight are worthless.
Their witnesses cannot see;
they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.
44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol
that will prove worthless? 1
44:11 Look, all his associates 2 will be put to shame;
the craftsmen are mere humans. 3
Let them all assemble and take their stand!
They will panic and be put to shame.
1 tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”
2 tn The pronoun “his” probably refers to the one who forms/casts an idol (v. 10), in which case it refers to the craftsman’s associates in the idol-manufacturing guild.
3 sn The point seems to be this: If the idols are the mere products of human hands, then those who trust in them will be disappointed, for man-made gods are incapable of helping their “creators.”