Isaiah 40:20

הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה עֵץ לֹא־יִרְקַב יִבְחָר חָרָשׁ חָכָם יְבַקֶּשׁ־לוֹ לְהָכִין פֶּסֶל לֹא יִמּוֹט׃

20 One too poor for (such) an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks out a skilled smith for himself to make the idol firm so that it will not topple.

הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה עֵץ לֹא־יִרְקַב יִבְחָר One too poor for (such) an offering chooses a tree that will not rot, Although it's evident that הַמְסֻכָּן is a pual participle, it's not so evident what מָסַךְ means, although its definite article sets it off as an attributive, "one who..." idea. The root word מָסַךְ means "poor," and perhaps Isaiah is using wordplay since מַסֵּכָה means "molten image" (Deut. 9:12; Judges 17:3-4). I have given it a comparative form, "too poor." The King James' "holm oak" might be the result of the Vulgate's attempt at a translation with morus, "black mulberry tree." There also might be wordplay (a sort of inverted rhyme similar to an anagram) between יִרְקַב "rot" (qal imf רקב) and יִבְחָר "he chooses" (qal imf בחר).

Why is the one who is "too poor," too poor? Is he impoverished because the pagan priest is crippling the people financially? Or is this a reference to an idol-maker who prices are too high? Or has this poor man spent all of his money making offerings, and now he can't afford his own private god? Whichever is true, it's in contrast to the free and faithful grace of the true God for his people, the true Israel.

חָרָשׁ חָכָם יְבַקֶּשׁ־לוֹ He seeks out a skilled smith for himself, Here חָכָם "wise" indicates practical skills in his craft. יְבַקֶּשׁ is a piel imperfect, indicating habitual or regular activity: This is what the poor man does whenever he needs another idol. He finds a clever craftsman "for himself" (לוֹ, the לְ is a lamed of advantage).

לְהָכִין פֶּסֶל לֹא יִמּוֹט to make the idol firm so that it will not topple. לְהָכִין is a hifil infintive construct from כּוּן, "be firm." The hifil is primarily a causative stem, but there is a declarative use as well. Although there would be some irony in the craftsman "declaring" that the idol was firm and topple-proof, it's certain that here it is simply his job to make it so. The nifal imperfect יִמּוֹט from מוֹט calls to mind the indignity suffered by the Philistines when Dagon wobbled and fell when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into his little shrine at Ashdod (1 Sam. 5:1-4)