Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Isaiah 44:9

in Isaiah 44

All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame.

KJV

They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

This verse in Isaiah 44

Commentary

9 notes on this verse
They that make a graven image - A graven image is one that is cut, or sculptured out of wood or stone, in contradistinction from one that is molten, which is made by being cast. Here it is used to denote an image, or an idol-god in general.

This site's exposition

All makers of idols are nothing

on Isaiah 44:9-11

All makers of idols are nothing opens the satire, and the makers become witnesses against their work, Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend. They answer the true witnesses named in verse 8. Verse 11 gathers every workman to stand and answer, and it promises shame for the whole trade.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 6 and following) This is what the Lord, the king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides me. Who is like me? Let him call and declare, and lay out the order for me, since I established the ancient people: what is coming and what will happen, let them declare to them. Do not be afraid, nor be troubled: from that time I have made you hear and announced it; you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me, and a creator whom I do not know? All the idols of the nations are worthless, and the things they love do not profit them. They themselves are witnesses to their own worthlessness, for they do not see or understand, so that they may be put to shame. Who formed a god or cast an idol that is profitable for nothing? Look, all his companions shall be put to shame; the craftsmen are mere men. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together. The blacksmith takes a tool and works it with the coals; he fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He will be hungry and will become weak, he will not drink water, and he will grow weary. The carpenter extends the rule (or the form), he shapes it on the plane, he forms it with angles, and rounds it off with a compass. And he makes an image of a man, like a handsome man dwelling in a house. He cuts down cedars, he takes an oak, and a tree that stood among the woods. He plants a pine, which the rain nourishes, and it becomes fuel for men. He takes from them, and warms himself; he kindles it, and bakes bread. But the rest of it he made into a god and worshipped; he made an idol and bowed down to it. He burned half of it in the fire and cooked meat on it; he roasted a stew and ate it, and then he was satisfied. He warmed himself and said, 'Ah! […]

A commentator

Eusebius of Caesarea

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:26 · Written before 339.

proposed

Isaiah sees that in the ensuing time a very great number of people will arise who all "will be ashamed" and who will cease from their continual error. They will be ashamed and hide their faces. If they persist in their error, however, they will be given over to destruction at the time of judgment. But this word is also for those of us now in the present.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

Second, he shows the unsuitableness of their witnesses: the makers (plastae) of idols, are all of them nothing, of no power, above: all nations are before him as if they had no being at all (Isa 40:17), or because they do not obtain their intention, …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

They that make a graven image are all of them vanity,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

We appeal to themselves whether it be not a silly sottish thing to expect any good from gods of their own making: They are their own witnesses, witnesses against themselves, if they would but give their own consciences leave to deal faithfully with them, that they are blind and ignorant in doing thus.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

41:29). delectable things--the idols in which they take such pride and delight. not profit-- (Hab 2:18). they are their own witnesses--contrasted with, "Ye are My witnesses" (Isa 44:8).

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

That they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god “That every one may be ashamed, that he hath formed a god” - The Bodleian MS., one of the first extant for its antiquity and authority, instead of מי mi, at the beginning of the tenth verse, has כי ki, which greatly clears up the construction of a very obscure passage. Doederlein approves of this reading. The Septuagint likewise closely connect in construction the end of Isa 44:9 with the beginning of Isa 44:10; and wholly omit the interrogative מי mi, which embarrasses the sentence: Αισχυνθησονται οἱ πλασσοντες Θεον, και γλυφοντες παντες ανωφελη· “But they shall be confounded that make a god; and they who engrave unprofitable things;” agreeably to the reading of the MS. above mentioned.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • יֹֽצְרֵי־[those who] form

    yotzerei-H3335 →62 times

  • פֶ֤סֶל<of> an idol

    feselH6459 →31 times

  • כֻּלָּם֙all of them

    kulamH3605 →5413 times

  • תֹּ֔הוּ[are] nothingness

    tohuH8414 →20 times

  • וַחֲמוּדֵיהֶ֖םand desired [things] their

    vachamudeihemH2530 →25 times

  • בַּל־not

    bal-H1077 →73 times

  • יוֹעִ֑ילוּthey confer profit

    yoiluH3276 →23 times

  • וְעֵדֵיהֶ֣םand witnesses their

    veedeihemH5707 →70 times

  • הֵׄ֗מָּׄהׄthey

    hemahH1992 →553 times

  • בַּל־not

    bal-H1077 →73 times

  • יִרְא֛וּthey see

    yiruH7200 →1300 times

  • וּבַל־and not

    uval-H1077 →73 times

  • יֵדְע֖וּthey know

    yedeuH3045 →945 times

  • לְמַ֥עַןso that

    lemaanH4616 →272 times

  • יֵבֹֽשׁוּ׃they may be ashamed

    yevoshuH954 →127 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Psalms 97:7

    All worshipers of images are put to shame— those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 10:14

      Every 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.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Hebrews 1:6

      And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all God’s angels worship Him.”

    • Isaiah 42:17

      But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.

    • Leviticus 26:1

      “You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am…

  • Through

    Isaiah 41:24

    Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 115:8

      Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

    • 1 Corinthians 8:4

      So 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.

  • Through

    Isaiah 41:29

    See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 5:13

      The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”

    • Isaiah 41:24

      Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

Where this verse is studied

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
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); Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:26; 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.