How then can one fail to see that these are not gods…?: As in verse 40a (see the comments there), the question here is not asking for information. Good News Translation reverses the clauses in this verse, but it conveys the same sense as Revised Standard Version; the meaning of the verse is not affected. In fact, the reversal helps to lead into the next verse. In Good News Translation the question at the end of the verse sounds like a repetition of the refrain used at the end of each section. But the wording in Greek is really not that close, and a paragraph break is not really called for at the end of this verse. The break here in Good News Translation does no harm, but the connection with verse 50 would be clearer without it. Contemporary English Version reverses the clauses too, but makes the final clause a strong statement rather than a rhetorical question: “The idols cannot save themselves from war or trouble because they aren’t gods.”

The Greek nouns rendered war and calamity are the same nouns used in the previous verse.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.