sing upon thy stock.

44:4. And they shall spring up among the herbs, as willows beside the
running waters.

44:5. One shall say: I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by
the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand, To the
Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

44:6. Thus saith the Lord the king of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord
of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no
God.

44:7. Who is like to me? let him call and declare: and let him set
before me the order, since I appointed the ancient people: and the
things to come, and that shall be hereafter, let them shew unto them.

44:8. Fear ye not, neither be ye troubled from that time I have made
thee to hear, and have declared: you are my witnesses. Is there a God
besides me, a maker, whom I have not known?

44:9. The makers of idols are all of them nothing, and their best
beloved things shall not profit them. They are their witnesses, that
they do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed.

44:10. Who hath formed a god, and made a graven thing that is profitable
for nothing?

44:11. Behold, all the partakers thereof shall be confounded: for the
makers are men: they shall all assemble together, they shall stand and
fear, and shall be confounded together.

44:12. The smith hath wrought with his file, with coals, and with
hammers he hath formed it, and hath wrought with the strength of his
arm: he shall hunger and faint, he shall drink no water, and shall be
weary.

44:13. The carpenter hath stretched out his rule, he hath formed it with
a plane: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round with
the compass: and he hath made the image of a man as it were a beautiful
man dwelling in a house.

44:14. He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood
among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the
rain hath nourished.

44:15. And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed
himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a
god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it.

44:16. Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his
meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha,
I am warm, I have seen the fire.

44:17. But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for
himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth