# It is as if he were eating ashes

Yahweh speaks of a person worshiping an idol as if that person were eating the burned ashes of the wood from which he made the idol. Just as eating ashes does not benefit a person, neither does worshiping an idol.

# his deceived heart misleads him

"he misleads himself because he is deceived" 

# He cannot rescue himself

"The person who worships idols cannot save himself"