Devine Scripture

Isaiah 41:24

What does Isaiah 41:24 mean?

A plain-English look at Isaiah 41:24 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Isaiah 41:24 means

God delivers a decisive verdict against the idols and their existence: "Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought." He declares that any who choose to worship these idols are an "abomination." This powerful condemnation underscores their absolute emptiness, worthlessness, and the offensive nature of idolatry to the one true God. It emphasizes that relying on such false gods yields no value or benefit whatsoever, being utterly vain and futile.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

But you are nothing, and your work is of no value: foolish is he who takes you for his gods.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Lo, ye <FI>are<Fi> of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination--it fixeth on you.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you. ...

Context

Following the intense challenge to the idols to prove their divinity through foreknowledge or action, this verse delivers God's unequivocal judgment. It definitively declares the idols to be void of substance and power, and their worshipers an abomination. This concluding verdict on the idols' impotence directly precedes God's reassertion of His own power to raise up a conqueror, contrasting His active sovereignty with their inertness.

v.23Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

v.24This passage

v.25I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Isaiah 41:29

    Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.

  • Jeremiah 10:8

    But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.

  • Jeremiah 10:14

    Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

  • Psalms 115:8

    They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them.

  • Isaiah 37:19

    and have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; therefore they have destroyed them.

  • Jeremiah 51:17

    Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

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