Isaiah 17:8

Isaiah 17:8 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
• New International Version (NIV)They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made.
• English Standard Version (ESV)He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.
• New King James Version (NKJV)He will not look to the altars, The work of his hands; He will not respect what his fingers have made, Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars.

Context of Isaiah 17:8

6Yet gleanings will be left in the land [of Israel] like the shaking of the olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost branch, Four or five on the [outermost] branches of the fruitful tree,” Declares the Lord, the God of Israel. 7In that day man will have regard for his Maker, And his eyes will regard the Holy One of Israel [with awe-inspired reverence]. And he will not have regard for the [idolatrous] altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made, Neither the Asherim (symbols of the goddess Asherah) nor the incense altars. 9In that day the strong cities of Aram and Israel will be like deserted places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the children of Israel; And the land will be a desolation. 10Because you [Judah] have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the Rock of your Stronghold— Therefore you plant lovely plants And set the grounds with vine slips of a strange god,

Isaiah 17:8 word by word

וְלֹ֣א יִשְׁעֶ֔ה אֶל־הַֽמִּזְבְּח֖וֹת מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה יָדָ֑יו וַאֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשׂ֤וּ אֶצְבְּעֹתָיו֙ לֹ֣א יִרְאֶ֔ה וְהָאֲשֵׁרִ֖ים וְהָחַמָּנִֽים׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And he shall not lookשָׁעָהshâ‛âh · to gazeH8159
• to the altarsמִזְבֵּחַmizbêach · altarH4196
• the workמַעֲשֶׂהma‛ăώeh · deed: workH4639
• of his handsיָדyâd · handH3027
• neither shall respectרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• which his fingersאֶצְבַּע'etsba‛ · fingerH676
• have madeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213
• either the grovesאֲשֵׁרָה'ăshêrâh 'ăshêyrâh · AsherahH842
• or the imagesחַמָּןchammân · pillarH2553

Cross-references for Isaiah 17:8

• Isaiah 1:29For you will be ashamed [of the degradation] of the oaks in which you took [idolatrous] pleasure, And you will be ashamed of the gardens [of passion] which you have chosen [for pagan worship].
• Isaiah 2:18And the idols will completely vanish (be abolished).
• Isaiah 27:9Therefore through this the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of Jacob (Israel) will be atoned for and forgiven; And this will be the full price [that God requires] for taking away his sin: When Israel makes all the stones of the [pagan] altars like crushed chalk stones; When the Asherim and the incense altars will not stand.
• Isaiah 30:22And you will defile your carved images overlaid with silver, and your cast images plated with gold. You will scatter them like a bloodstained cloth, and will say to them, “Be gone!”
• 2 Chronicles 34:6In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins,
• Ezekiel 36:25Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.
• Hosea 14:8O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? It is I who have answered and will care for you and watch over you. I am like a luxuriant cypress tree; With Me your fruit is found [which is to nourish you].
• Zephaniah 1:3“I will consume and sweep away man and beast; I will consume and sweep away the birds of the air And the fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks (idols) along with the wicked; And I will cut off and destroy man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
• Zechariah 13:2“In that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
• Isaiah 2:8Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their own fingers have made.
• Isaiah 31:6Return to Him from whom you have so deeply defected, O sons of Israel.
• Isaiah 44:15Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god [from the same wood] and worships it. He makes it into a carved idol [with his own hands] and falls down and worships it!
• Hosea 8:4They set up kings, but not from Me [therefore without My blessing]; They have appointed princes, but I did not know it. With their silver and their gold they made idols for themselves, That they might be cut off.
• Hosea 10:1Israel is a luxuriant and prolific vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he made [to Baal]; The richer his land, The better he made the [idolatrous] pillars.
• Hosea 13:1When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling and terror. He exalted himself [above the other tribes] in Israel; But through [the worship of] Baal he became guilty and died [spiritually, and then came ruin, sealing Israel’s doom as a nation].
• Micah 5:13I will also cut off your carved images And your sacred pillars from among you, So that you will no longer worship and bow down To the work of your hands.

Commentaries on Isaiah 17:8

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8The altars, the work of his hands "The altars dedicated to the work of his hands" - The construction of the words, and the meaning of the sentence, in this place are not obvious; all the ancient Versions, and most of the modern, have mistaken it. The word מעשה maaseh, "the work," stands in regimine with מזבחות mizbechoth, "altars," not in opposition to it; it means the, altars of the work of their hand; that is of the idols, which are the work of their…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8And he shall not look to the altars - That is, the altars of the gods which the Syrians worshipped, and the altars of the false gods which had been erected in the land of Israel or Samaria by its wicked kings, and particularly by Ahaz. Ahaz fancied an altar which he saw at Damascus when on a visit to Tiglath-pileser, and ordered Urijah the priest to construct one like it in Samaria, on which he subsequently offered sacrifice 2 Kings 16:10-13. It is well…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8Canaanites and then Israelites worshiped the fertility goddess Asherah in wooded areas or, in the absence of wooded areas, by using Asherah poles (see Isaiah 27:9; 65:3; Micah 5:14).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 88. groves--A symbolical tree is often found in Assyrian inscriptions, representing the hosts of heaven ("Saba"), answering to Ashteroth or Astarte, the queen of heaven, as Baal or Bel is the king. Hence the expression, "image of the grove," is explained (2Ki 21:7). images--literally, "images to the sun," that is, to Baal, who answers to the sun, as Astarte to the hosts of heaven (2Ki 23:5; Job 31:26).Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 17:8

• Groves
• Idolatry
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning

In the dictionaries

• Idol
• Rebuke
• Ruinous
• Rushing
• Evil
• Ezekiel
• Images
• Isaiah
• Raisins
• Sun-Worship

Commentaries on Isaiah 17

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings