Isaiah 41:24
in Isaiah 41Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.
KJV
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
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This verse in Isaiah 41
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 24) Behold, you are nothing (from nothing): and your work is from something that does not exist: an abomination is he who chooses you. LXX: they have chosen you from the land of abominations. Or this may be said, that mute images of humans and insensible things are neither able to do good nor evil, nor to know the past nor the future, because they are made out of nothing and out of that which does not exist, and not they themselves, but rather the one who worships them, is deserving of abomination.
This site's exposition
you are nothing
on Isaiah 41:24-25
The verdict on the idols comes in the middle of the trial, you are nothing. The next exhibit follows, I have raised up one from the north, one from the east. The figure matches Cyrus, named at 44:28, and the book's two datings differ over this prediction.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, he deduces their defect as to material cause: behold, you, idols, are of nothing, created out of matter; as to formal cause, your work, that is, the artificial form, which fashioned in you a divinity, which does not exist; and as to efficient cause: …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Behold, ye are of nothing,.... Not as to the matter of them, for they were made of gold, silver, brass, &c. but as to the divinity of them: there was none in them, they were of no worth and value; they could do nothing, either good or evil, either help their friends, or hurt their enemies; yea, they were less than nothing; for the words may be rendered by way of comparison, "behold, ye are less than nothing"; (a).
Their claims have no foundation at all, nor is there any ground or reason in the least for men's paying them the respect they do; there is nothing in them worthy our regard. "They are less than nothing, worse than nothing;" so some read it. " The work they do is of nought, and so is the ado that is made about them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. 2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Your work of naught “Your operation is less than naught” - For מאפע meepha, read מאפס meephes; so the Chaldee and Vulgate. A manifest error of the text; compare Isa 40:17. The rabbins acknowledge no such error, but say that the former word signifies the same with the latter, by a change of the two letters ס samech and ע ain. - Sal ben Melec in loc.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
of nothing--(See on Isa 40:17). The Hebrew text is here corrupt; so English Version treats it. abomination--abstract for concrete: not merely abominable, but the essence of whatever is so (De 18:12). chooseth you--as an object of worship.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Behold, ye are of nothing - Margin, ‘Worse than nothing.’ This refers to idols; and the idea is, that they were utterly vain and powerless; they were as unable to render aid to their worshippers as absolute nothingness would be, and all their confidence in them was vain and foolish. And your work - All that you do, or all that it is pretended that you do. Of nought - Margin, ‘Worse than a viper.’ The word used here in the common Hebrew text (אפע 'epa‛) occurs in no other place. Gesenius supposes that this is a corrupt reading for אפס 'epes (nothing), and so our translators have regarded it, and in this opinion most expositors agree. Hahn has adopted this reading in his Hebrew Bible. The Jewish rabbis suppose generally that the word אפע 'epa‛ is the same word as אפעה 'eph‛eh, a viper, according to the reading in the margin. But this interpretation is contrary to the connection, as well as the ancient versions. The Vulgate and Chaldee render it, ‘Of nought.’ The Syriac renders it, ‘Your works are of the sword.’ This is probably one of the few instances in which there has been a corruption of the Hebrew text (compare Isa 40:17; Isa 41:12, Isa 41:19). An abomination is he that chooseth you - They who select idols as the object of worship, and offer to them homage, are regarded as abominable by God.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֵן־ | hen- | here! | H2005 → | 316 times |
| אַתֶּ֣ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| מֵאַ֔יִן | meayin | [are] from nothing | H369 → | 789 times |
| וּפָעָלְכֶ֖ם | ufaalekhem | and work your | H6467 → | 37 times |
| מֵאָ֑פַע | meafa' | [is] from something worthless | H659 → | |
| תּוֹעֵבָ֖ה | toevah | [is] an abomination | H8441 → | 117 times |
| יִבְחַ֥ר | yivchar | [one who] he chooses | H977 → | 171 times |
| בָּכֶֽם׃ | bakhem | <in> you |
הֵן־here!
hen-H2005 →316 times
אַתֶּ֣םyou
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
מֵאַ֔יִן[are] from nothing
meayinH369 →789 times
וּפָעָלְכֶ֖םand work your
ufaalekhemH6467 →37 times
מֵאָ֑פַע[is] from something worthless
meafa'H659 →
תּוֹעֵבָ֖ה[is] an abomination
toevahH8441 →117 times
יִבְחַ֥ר[one who] he chooses
yivcharH977 →171 times
בָּכֶֽם׃<in> you
bakhem
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 10:14Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:18–19
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 135:16–18
They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;
- Psalms 115:4–8
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 46:7–8
They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not…
- Isaiah 44:18–20
They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
- Habakkuk 2:18–19
Through
Psalms 115:8Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
it leads to
- Psalms 135:18
Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 135:18
Through
1 Corinthians 8:4So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:39
Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
- Ephesians 4:6
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
- Deuteronomy 4:39
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.