en_tn_lite_do_not_use/hab/02/18.md

General Information:

Yahweh continues to answer Habakkuk and to speak of the Chaldeans as if they were one man. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)

What profit is there in a carved image?

This rhetorical question emphasizes the negative answer that it anticipates. The question can be translated as a statement. Alternate translation: "The carved figure does no one any good!" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion)

Or a cast metal figure, a teacher of lies?

This rhetorical question continues the idea in the first two sentences. You may need to add the ideas omitted in the ellipsis. Alternate translation: "Or what good is a cast metal figure? It is a teacher of lies" or "And a cast metal figure can does no one any good because it is a teacher of lies" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-ellipsis and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion)

a teacher of lies

This phrase personifies the cast metal figure as a teacher. People who look at a skillfully made idol falsely believe that it has power. Alternate translation: "a thing about which people believe lies" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-personification)

worthless idols

or "idols who cannot speak"