And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol: The prophet mocks the person here by saying he uses the leftover wood to make an idol. He gives priority to using the wood for cooking and keeping warm. The rest of it refers to the wood remaining after the parts that were burned for providing warmth and cooking meat. The Hebrew verb rendered makes is a keyword in this subsection (see verse 13, where it is translated “fashions” and “shapes” and verse 15). A god (ʾel in Hebrew) and his idol are a hendiadys, which may be rendered “an idol of his god.” They form a single object for the verb makes.

And falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it: The three actions here are similar. For falls down and worships, see verse 15.

And says, “Deliver me, for thou art my god!”: These are the words of the idol worshiper’s prayer. The Hebrew verb rendered Deliver carries the sense of “rescue” here (compare 31.5). He asks his wooden image to save him from some difficulty. For thou art my god are the grounds for his appeal. He considers the idol he made his god, so he turns to it for help. For languages that prefer indirect speech here, see the first example below.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• With the leftovers he makes an image, a god. He bows down to it, worships it, and prays to it, asking it to rescue him since it is his god.

• He makes an image of his god with what is left of the wood. He bows to it, worships it, and prays to it, pleading, “You are my god, so save me!”

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .