Verse | Translation | Text |
Isa 44:13 | Strong Concordance | The carpenter [02796] [06086] stretcheth out [05186] his rule [06957]; he marketh it out [08388] with a line [08279]; he fitteth [06213] it with planes [04741], and he marketh it out [08388] with the compass [04230], and maketh [06213] it after the figure [08403] of a man [0376], according to the beauty [08597] of a man [0120]; that it may remain [03427] in the house [01004]. |
King James | The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. |
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
After the smith's work in preparing the instruments comes the carpenter's work in forming the idol. rule--rather, "line" [BARNES]. with a line--rather, a "pencil," [HORSLEY]. Literally, "red ochre," which he uses to mark on the wood the outline of the figure [LOWTH]. Or best, the stylus or graver, with which the incision of the outline is made [GESENIUS]. planes--rather, "chisels" or "carving tools," for a plane would not answer for carving. compass--from a Hebrew root, "to make a circle"; by it, symmetry of form is secured. according to . . . beauty of a man--irony. The highest idea the heathen could form of a god was one of a form like their own. JEROME says, "The more handsome the statue the more august the god was thought." The incarnation of the Son of God condescends to this anthropomorphic feeling so natural to man, but in such a way as to raise man's thoughts up to the infinite God who "is a spirit." that it may remain in . . . house--the only thing it was good for; it could not hear nor save (compare Wisdom 13:15). |