English Standard Version
Isaiah 41:24
24Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.
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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Indeed you are nothing, And your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.
- New Living Translation (NLT)But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all. Those who choose you pollute themselves.
Context of Isaiah 41:24
22Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. 23Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you. 25I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay. 26Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and beforehand, that we might say, "He is right"? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words.
Read all of Isaiah 41Isaiah 41:24 word by word
הֵן־אַתֶּ֣ם מֵאַ֔יִן וּפָעָלְכֶ֖ם מֵאָ֑פַע תּוֹעֵבָ֖ה יִבְחַ֥ר בָּכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 41:24
- Isaiah 41:29Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.
- Isaiah 44:9All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.
- Psalms 115:8Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
- Jeremiah 10:8They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!
- Jeremiah 51:17Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one."
- Isaiah 66:24"And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."
- Deuteronomy 7:26And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.
- Deuteronomy 27:15"'Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen.'
- Revelation 17:5And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."
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
In the dictionaries
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries