the customes of the people are vain] Heb. statutes, or, ordinances, are vanitie. that is, most vain. Vers 15. Their courses in these kinds are senselesse, frivolous and ridiculous. one cutteth a tree out of the forest, &c.] Thus the Prophet simply and plainly setteth out their vile absurditie, to make it the more to be abhorred. So Isa. 40. 19, 20. & 44. 12-17. (the work of the hands of the workman)] Or, for the work. Vers. 9. as Malachi 2:5. for the carpenter, or carver, to work upon. Isaiah 44:13-14. with the ax] Isaiah 44:12.