New Living Translation
Isaiah 17:8
8They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
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 of its people will be left, like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest. Only two or three remain in the highest branches, four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,” declares the Lord, the God of Israel. 7Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or worship at the pagan shrines they have built. 9Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest, like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when the Israelites came here so long ago. It will be utterly desolate. 10Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings.
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 your idol worship in groves of sacred oaks. You will blush because you worshiped in gardens dedicated to idols.
- Isaiah 2:18Idols will completely disappear.
- Isaiah 27:9The Lord did this to purge Israel’s wickedness, to take away all her sin. As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust. No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.
- Isaiah 30:22Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, “Good riddance!”
- 2 Chronicles 34:6He did the same thing in the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, even as far as Naphtali, and in the regions all around them.
- Ezekiel 36:25“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.
- Hosea 14:8“O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.”
- Zephaniah 1:3“I will sweep away people and animals alike. I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish in the sea. I will reduce the wicked to heaps of rubble, and I will wipe humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.
- Zechariah 13:2“And on that day,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will erase idol worship throughout the land, so that even the names of the idols will be forgotten. I will remove from the land both the false prophets and the spirit of impurity that came with them.
- Isaiah 2:8Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands.
- Isaiah 31:6Though you are such wicked rebels, my people, come and return to the Lord.
- Isaiah 44:15Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire. With it he warms himself and bakes his bread. Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship! He makes an idol and bows down in front of it!
- Hosea 8:4The people have appointed kings without my consent, and princes without my approval. By making idols for themselves from their silver and gold, they have brought about their own destruction.
- Hosea 10:1How prosperous Israel is— a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit. But the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars.
- Hosea 13:1When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear, for that tribe was important in Israel. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction.
- Micah 5:13I will destroy all your idols and sacred pillars, so you will never again worship the work of your own 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
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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