God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 17:8
8They won’t look to the altars made by their hands or to the Asherah poles or incense altars which their fingers molded.
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
6Only a few people will survive. They will be like an olive tree that has been beaten. Only two or three olives are left at the top of the highest branch, four or five olives on the rest of the branches,” declares the Lord God of Israel. 7When that day comes, they will look to their maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. They won’t look to the altars made by their hands or to the Asherah poles or incense altars which their fingers molded. 9When that day comes, the fortified cities which other people abandoned because of the Israelites will be like abandoned woods and undergrowth. So it will become a wasteland. 10You have forgotten the God of your salvation. You haven’t remembered the rock, your stronghold. Instead, you have planted the best plants and have set out the imported grapevines.
Read all of Isaiah 17Isaiah 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 1:29You will be ashamed of the oaks that you wanted to worship and embarrassed by the garden that you have chosen for your gods.
- Isaiah 2:18Then idols will disappear completely.
- Isaiah 27:9In this way the wrongdoings of the descendants of Jacob are covered up. This is the way they will turn from their sins— when they turn all the altar stones into powdered chalk and no poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah or incense altars are left standing.
- Isaiah 30:22Then you will dishonor your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered statues. You will throw them away like clothing ruined by stains. You will say to them, “Get out!”
- 2 Chronicles 34:6In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, he removed all their temples,
- Ezekiel 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean instead of unclean. Then I will cleanse you from all your idols.
- Hosea 14:8“The people of Ephraim will have nothing more to do with idols. I will answer them and take care of them. I am like a growing pine tree. Their fruit comes from me.”
- Zephaniah 1:3“I will put an end to humans and animals. I will put an end to the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and the sins that make people fall, together with the sinners. I will remove all people from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
- Zechariah 13:2“On that day,” declares the Lord of Armies, “I will wipe away the names of the idols from the land. They will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the ⌞false⌟ prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
- Isaiah 2:8Their land is filled with idols, and they worship what their hands have shaped and what their fingers have molded.
- Isaiah 31:6You people of Israel, return to the one whom you have so violently rebelled against.
- Isaiah 44:15These trees become ⌞fuel⌟ for people to burn. So they take some of them and warm themselves with them. They start fires and bake bread. They also make gods from these trees and worship them. They make them into carved statues and bow in front of them.
- Hosea 8:4“They chose their own kings, kings I didn’t approve. They chose their own princes, princes I didn’t know. They chose to make idols with their own silver and gold. Because of this, they will be destroyed.
- Hosea 10:1The people of Israel are like vines that used to produce fruit. The more fruit they produced, the more altars they built. The more their land produced, the more stone markers they set up ⌞to honor other gods⌟.
- Hosea 13:1When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, people trembled. The people of Ephraim were important in Israel. Then they became guilty of worshiping Baal, so they must die.
- Micah 5:13I will destroy your idols and your sacred monuments. You will no longer worship what your hands have made.
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
In the dictionaries
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
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