Isaiah 41:24 BSB — MannaFest

Isaiah 41:24

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

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

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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Commentary

3 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah (420)

(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.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)

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).

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

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.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

8 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
הֵן־	hen-	here!	H2005 →
אַתֶּ֣ם	'a.Tem	you	H859 →
מֵאַ֔יִן	me.'A.yin	[are] from nothing	H369 →
וּפָעָלְכֶ֖ם	u.fa.'a.le.Khem	and work your	H6467 →
מֵאָ֑פַע	me.'A.fa'	[is] from something worthless	H659 →
תּוֹעֵבָ֖ה	to.'e.Vah	[is] an abomination	H8441 →
יִבְחַ֥ר	yiv.Char	[one who] he chooses	H977 →
בָּכֶֽם׃	ba.Khem	<in> you

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
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.
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 independent 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.
Through
Psalms 115:8
Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
leads to
- Psalms 135:18
  Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Through
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.
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.

Featured studies on this passage

Walks through Isaiah 41

The Right Hand

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About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Isaiah: the study guide →Read chapter 41 →The featured study →

Continue: Isaiah 41 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Isaiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Isaiah