Isaiah 46:3

Let them not think to make idols of their own, images of the God of Israel, by them to worship him, as the Babylonians worship their gods,

Hearken unto me - From this view of the captive gods, the address is now turned to the Jews. The utter vanity of the idols had been set before them; and in view of that, God now addresses his own people, and entreats them to put their trust in him. The address he commences with words of great tenderness and endearment, designed to lead them to confide in him as their Father and friend. And all the remnant - All who were left from slaughter, and all who were borne into captivity to Babylon.

THE confidence of Babylon is buried among her heaps of rubbish for her gods have fallen from their thrones. "Bel bows down, Nebo stoops." As for us, Beloved, our trust is in the living God who lives to bear and carry His chosen, even in Jehovah, the only true Lord. We begin our spiritual life by faith in Him, for till faith comes we have no power to become the sons of God. Our spiritual life will have to be continued in the same way of trust in the Lord, "for the just shall live by faith."

in contrast to what precedes: Babylon's idols, so far from bearing its people safely are themselves borne off, a burden to the laden beast; but Jehovah bears His people in safety even from the womb to old age (Isa 63:9;

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

THE confidence of Babylon is buried among her heaps of rubbish for her gods have fallen from their thrones. "Bel bows down, Nebo stoops." As for us, Beloved, our trust is in the living God who lives to bear and carry His chosen, even in Jehovah, the only true Lord. We begin our spiritual life by faith in Him, for till faith comes we have no power to become the sons of God. Our spiritual life will have to be continued in the same way of trust in the Lord, "for the just shall live by faith." We live by faith upon the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. We rejoice that we shall never have to change our confidence, for our God will never be carried into captivity, nor torn from His Throne. Our faith is built upon a rock that can never be moved. Nothing in the past has shaken the foundation of our faith. Nothing in the present can move it. Nothing in the future will undermine it. Whatever may occur in the ages to come, there will always be good reason for believing in Jehovah and His faithful Word. The great Truths which He has revealed will never be disproved. The great promises He has made will never be retracted. The great purposes He has devised will never be abandoned. So long as we live, so long shall we have a refuge, a hope, a confidence, that can never be removed— "His sovereign mercy knows no end, His faithfulness shall still endure; And those who on His Word depend Shall find His Word forever sure." That part of our text which says, "Even to your old age I am He. And even to hoar hairs will I carry you," may seem to be a promise made to old age. So, indeed, it is. Many a hoary saint has made a soft pillow of this precious promise and has rested upon it with delight in the days of his decay. But yet the text, if it is rightly read, is a promise to the people of God at any and every period between their birth and their death.

Which are borne by me from the belly “Ye that have been borne by me from the birth” - The prophet very ingeniously, and with great force, contrasts the power of God, and his tender goodness effectually exerted towards his people, with the inability of the false gods of the heathen. He like an indulgent father had carried his people in his arms, “as a man carrieth his son,” Deu 1:31. He had protected them, and delivered them from their distresses: whereas the idols of the heathen are forced to be carried about themselves and removed from place to place, with great labor and fatigue, by their worshippers; nor can they answer, or deliver their votaries, when they cry unto them. Moses, expostulating with God on the weight of the charge laid upon him as leader of his people, expresses that charge under the same image of a parent’s carrying his children, in very strong terms: “Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them? that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers;” Num 11:12.