Isaiah 41:24

Isaiah 41:24 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
• New International Version (NIV)But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Indeed you are nothing, And your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.

Context of Isaiah 41:24

22Bring your idols into court. Let them tell us what will happen in future years. Let them tell us what happened in the past. Then we can think about those things. We will understand what happened in the end. Or ask them to tell us about future events! 23If they can tell us what will happen in future years, we will know that they really are gods. Tell them to do something, a good thing or a bad thing. That would really surprise us, or even frighten us! But no! Your idols are useless. There is nothing that they can do. Anybody who chooses to worship them has turned against God! 25I have woken up a ruler, who is coming with his army from the north. He comes from a land in the east, where the sun rises, and he will use my name to call to me. He will walk over rulers of other nations as if they are mud. He will push them down with his feet, like a potter who prepares his clay. 26Tell me, who decided in the beginning, that all these things must happen? Who told us about them before they happened? Then we could say, “He was right!” None of your idols said anything about it! Nobody heard them say a word!

Isaiah 41:24 word by word

הֵן־אַתֶּ֣ם מֵאַ֔יִן וּפָעָלְכֶ֖ם מֵאָ֑פַע תּוֹעֵבָ֖ה יִבְחַ֥ר בָּכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• of nothingאַ֫יִן'ayin · nothingH369
• and your workפֹּ֫עַלpô‛al · workH6467
• of noughtאֶ֫פַע'êpha‛ · worthlessH659
• an abominationתּוֹעֵבַהtô‛êbah tô‛êbah · abominationH8441
• choosethבָּחַרbâchar · to chooseH977

Cross-references for Isaiah 41:24

• Isaiah 41:29Look! All the idols are useless. They can do nothing. Their images are as weak as a breath of wind.’
• Isaiah 44:9All the people who make idols are fools. The images which make them so happy are useless. Those who worship idols cannot see the truth. They do not understand what they are doing, and they will be ashamed.
• Psalms 115:8The people that make those idols will become useless like them. The same is true for everyone who trusts their idols to help them.
• Jeremiah 10:8The people of those nations are stupid and foolish. They think that wooden idols can teach them something!
• Jeremiah 51:17People who worship idols are stupid. They do not understand what they are doing. The men who make idols will be ashamed. They make images of gods that are false. None of their idols have the breath of life in them.
• 1 Corinthians 8:4So think about food that people have offered to idols. You ask, ‘Should Christians eat that food?’ We know that no idol is really alive. We also know that there is only one God.
• Isaiah 66:24When they go out of the city, they will see the dead bodies of the people who turned against me. In that heap of bodies, the worms never die and the fire never stops burning. Everybody will see that it is disgusting.’
• Deuteronomy 7:26Do not bring anything that God hates into your house. If you do that, God will be ready to destroy you as well as the thing itself. God has said that he hates things like that, so you must hate them too.
• Deuteronomy 27:15‘God will curse anyone who makes any image of a god and who worships it secretly. The Lord hates all idols that people make with metal or with wood.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Yes, we agree!’
• Revelation 17:5A name was written on the front of her head. Only God knows what it means. It was: Powerful Babylon. Mother of all prostitutes. Mother of all the disgusting things on the earth.

Commentaries on Isaiah 41:24

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24Your 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 Isaiah 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.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24Behold, 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‛ )…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-29Verses 21-29 There needs no more to show the folly of sin, than to bring to notice the reasons given in defence of it. There is nothing in idols worthy of regard. They are less than nothing, and worse than nothing. Let the advocates of other doctrines than that of salvation through Christ, bring their arguments. Can they tell of a cure for human depravity? Jehovah has power which cannot be withstood; this he will make appear. But the certain knowledge of…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21-29This trial scene develops the Lord’s case against idolatry. Idols are nothing but a human creation, whereas God is the Creator of all things. Idols cannot speak, act, accomplish anything, or save their worshipers.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2424. of nothing--(See on Is 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.Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 41:24

• Condescension of God
• Idolatry

In the dictionaries

• Produce
• Gods
• Isaiah
• Nothing
• Nought
• Omniscience
• Philosophy
• Divination

Commentaries on Isaiah 41

• 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