Metalworkers

The work of goldsmiths

Making idols

Isaiah 40:19 See also Isaiah 41:6–7, Isaiah 46:6; Jeremiah 10:8–10, Jeremiah 10:14–15, Jeremiah 51:17–18

To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

Rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem

Nehemiah 3:31–32 See also Nehemiah 3:8

Next to him, Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and as far as the upper room above the corner. And between the upper room above the corner and the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs.

The work of silversmiths

Making idols

Judges 17:4 See also Acts 19:23–41

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.

Working with refined silver

Proverbs 25:4

Remove the dross from the silver, and a vessel for a silversmith will come forth.

The work of blacksmiths

Making idols

Isaiah 44:9–12

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. Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing? Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame. The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

Manufacturing weapons

Isaiah 54:16–17 See also 1 Samuel 13:19

Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

The work of other metalworkers and craftsmen

Making idols

Deuteronomy 27:15 See also Hosea 8:4–6; 2 Timothy 4:14–15

‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image — an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman — and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

The construction of the tabernacle

Exodus 31:1–6, Exodus 35:30–36:2, Exodus 39:2–3

The construction of the temple

1 Chronicles 22:14–16, 1 Chronicles 29:1–5; 2 Chronicles 2:7, 2 Chronicles 2:13–14