Isaiah 44:14
Isaiah 44:13-17 The Message (MSG)
The woodworker draws up plans for his no-god, traces it on a block of wood. He shapes it with chisels and planes into human shape—a beautiful woman, a handsome man, ready to be placed in a chapel. He first cuts down a cedar, or maybe picks out a pine or oak, and lets it grow strong in the forest, nourished by the rain. Then it can serve a double purpose: Part he uses as firewood for keeping warm and baking bread; from the other part he makes a god that he worships—carves it into a god shape and prays before it. With half he makes a fire to warm himself and barbecue his supper. He eats his fill and sits back satisfied with his stomach full and his feet warmed by the fire: “Ah, this is the life.” And he still has half left for a god, made to his personal design—a handy, convenient no-god to worship whenever so inclined. Whenever the need strikes him he prays to it, “Save me. You’re my god.”
Isaiah 44:14 King James Version (KJV)
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
Isaiah 44:14 New American Standard Bible - NASB 1995 (NASB1995)
Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.
Isaiah 44:14 New Century Version (NCV)
He cuts down cedars or cypress or oak trees. Those trees grew by their own power in the forest. Or he plants a pine tree, and the rain makes it grow.
Isaiah 44:14 American Standard Version (ASV)
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
Isaiah 44:14 New International Version (NIV)
He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.
Isaiah 44:14 New King James Version (NKJV)
He cuts down cedars for himself, And takes the cypress and the oak; He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it.
Isaiah 44:14 Amplified Bible (AMP)
He cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain nourishes it.
Isaiah 44:14 New Living Translation (NLT)
He cuts down cedars; he selects the cypress and the oak; he plants the pine in the forest to be nourished by the rain.