Bible Strands
Habakkuk 2:18
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet speaks on YHWH's behalf, delivering the third woe against Babylon (Hab 2:12–19), addressing the empire's idolatry as part of its broader pattern of violence.
The words — הוֹעִיל (ho'il), "does it profit," frames the rhetorical question in the blunt language of practical utility, as if weighing an investment. The pairing of פסל (pe.sel, "carved image") with מסכה (massekhah, "molten image") covers both major categories of idol manufacture.
The thread — The same indictment runs through Isaiah 44:9 ("all makers of idols are nothing"), Jeremiah 10:8 ("worthless idols made of wood"), and Zechariah 10:2 ("idols speak deceit").
Why it lands — The verse inverts the relationship: the maker trusts in his own creation, which cannot speak. It asks the reader to name the modern equivalents of that inversion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 10:8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
- Isaiah 44:9 All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
- Zechariah 10:2 For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
- 1 Corinthians 12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
- Jeremiah 2:27 say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’
- Isaiah 42:17 But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.
- Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Psalms 135:15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 45:16 They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.
- Isaiah 45:20 Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.