Isaiah 44:10

Isa 44:10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image [that] is profitable for nothing?

Ver. 10. Who hath formed a god that is profitable for nothing?] q.d, Who but a madman? ειδωλομανης, such as was Julian the apostate, called therefore Idolian by some.

“ Quis furor est, quae tanta animas dementia ludit? ”

- Sedullus.

What can be more ridiculous, {a} saith Basil, than for man to go about to make God? And yet Popish priests take upon them so to do: which made Averroes abhor Christianity, and wish that his soul might rather be among the philosophers.

{a} Quis haec ludibria non derideat? - Lact.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meaning, that whatsoever is made by the hand of man, if he be esteemed as God, is most detestable.

Whereby appeareth their blasphemy, which call images the books of the laity, seeing that they are not only here called unprofitable, but Isa 41:24 abominable, and Jeremiah calleth them the work of errors, Jer. 10:15; Habakkuk, a lying teacher, Hab. 2:18.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Who . . . ?--Sarcastic question: "How debased the man must be who forms a god!" It is a contradiction in terms. A made god, worshipped by its maker (Co1 8:4)!

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. See Clarke on Isa 44:9.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Who hath formed, &c.] A rhetorical question: who has been such a fool? On molten a graven image see ch. Isa_40:19.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who hath formed a god,.... Who ever made one? was such a thing ever known? or can that be a god which is made or formed? who so mad, foolish and sottish, as to imagine he has made a god? or is it possible for a creature to be the maker of a god? or any so stupid as to fancy he had made one? yet such there were, so void of understanding and reason, and even common sense: "or molten a graven image": first melted it, and cast it into a mould, and then graved and polished it, and called it a god?

that is profitable for nothing? or seeing it "is profitable for nothing", as a god; cannot see the persons, nor hear the prayers, nor relieve the distresses of those that worship it; and therefore it must be great folly indeed to make an image for such a purpose, which answers no end.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Who hath formed a god - The Septuagint reads this verse in connection with the close of the previous verse, ‘But they shall be ashamed who make a god, and all who sculpture unprofitable things.’ This interpretation also, Lowth, by a change in the Hebrew text on the authority of a manuscript in the Bodleian library, has adopted. This change is made by reading כי kı̂y instead of מי mı̂y in the beginning of the verse. But the authority of the change, being that of a single MS. and the Septuagint, is not sufficient. Nor is it necessary. The question is designed to be ironical and sarcastic: ‘Who is there,’ says the prophet, ‘that has done this? Who are they that are engaged in this stupid work? Do they give marks of a sound mind? What is, and must be the character of a man that bas formed a god, and that has made an unprofitable graven image?

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

What man in his wits can esteem that a god which his own hands have formed, or melt a graven image (understand out of the former clause, to be his god) which is profitable for nothing? He speaks of melting a graven image, because the image was first molten and cast in a mould, and then polished and graven with a tool, as was observed before. Or thus, Who art thou, O man, that formest a god, or meltest a graven image to worship it, which is profitable for nothing? Come hither, and let me reason the case with thee; which he doth in the following verses. So this verse is a kind of summons to idolaters to come and plead their own cause.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Who hath... molten a graven image? Metal idols were mostly cast in the first instance, and then finished off with a graving-tool. "Who hath molten" means "who has been so foolish as to do so to take so much trouble about a thing which cannot possibly profit any one?"

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“Who formed the god and cast the image to no use (or profit)?” Most interpreters regard this as an exclamation of contemptuous surprise, implying that no one in his senses would do so. But it is best to understand what follows as the answer to this question. Having affirmed the worthlessness of idols in general, he now proceeds to prove it from their origin. So far from being makers, they are made themselves, and who made them? This is the precise force of the verse before us. Here as elsewhere there is pungent sarcasm in the application of the name El (Mighty God) to idols.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

molded Heb. נָסָךְ, an expression of pouring and a molten image (מַסֵּכָה). The ‘nun’ in the word is a radical sometimes omitted, e.g., the ‘nun’ of נשך, biting, and of נגף, plaguing.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Who hath formed, etc. Is there any thoughtlessness like this, to attempt to form a god? God. So called in the sense of him who formed the image.

נסך He hath molten. Comp. מסכה molten (Jer. 7:5)

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.