Isaiah46
New Living Translation
1Bel and Nebo, the gods of Babylon, bow as they are lowered to the ground. They are being hauled away on ox carts. The poor beasts stagger under the weight.
2Both the idols and their owners are bowed down. The gods cannot protect the people, and the people cannot protect the gods. They go off into captivity together.
3“Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born.
4I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.
5“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?
6Some people pour out their silver and gold and hire a craftsman to make a god from it. Then they bow down and worship it!
7They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there. It can’t even move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer. It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.
8“Do not forget this! Keep it in mind! Remember this, you guilty ones.
9Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me.
10Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.
11I will call a swift bird of prey from the east— a leader from a distant land to come and do my bidding. I have said what I would do, and I will do it.
12“Listen to me, you stubborn people who are so far from doing right.
13For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now! I am ready to save Jerusalem and show my glory to Israel.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Isaiah 46.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The idols could not save themselves, but God saves his people. (1-4). The folly of worshipping idols. (5-13).
vv1-4
The heathen insulted the Jews, as if their idols Bel and Nebo were too hard for Jehovah. But their worshippers cannot help them; both the idols and the idolaters are gone into captivity. Let not God's people be afraid of either. Those things from which ungodly men expect safety and happiness, will be found unable to save them from death and hell. The true God will never fail his worshippers. The history of the life of every believer is a kind of abstract of the history of Israel. Our spiritual life is upheld by his grace, as constantly as our natural life by his providence. And God will never leave them. The Author will be the Finisher of their well-being, when, by decays, they need help as much as in infancy. This promise to Israel, enfeebled and grown old as a nation, is applicable to every aged follower of Christ. When compassed about with infirmities, and perhaps those around begin to grow weary of you, yet I am He that I have promised to be, He that you would have me to be. I will bear you up; carry you on in your way, and carry you home at last. If we learn to trust in and love him, we need not be anxious about our remaining days or years; he will still provide for us and watch over us, both as the creatures of his power, and as new-created by his Spirit.
vv5-13
Here the folly of those who made idols, and then prayed to them, is exposed. How does the profuseness of idolaters shame the niggardliness of many who call themselves God's servants, but are for a religion which costs them nothing! The service of sin always costs a great deal. God puts it to them what senseless, helpless things idols are. Let, then, the Jews show themselves men, avoiding such abominations. Many Scripture prophecies, delivered long ago, are not yet fulfilled; but the fulfilling of some is an earnest that the rest will come to pass. Nothing can help more to make us easy, than to be assured that God will do all his pleasure. Even those who know not and mind not God's revealed will, are called and used to fulfil the counsels of his secret will. Heaven and earth shall pass away, sooner than one tittle of the word of God. Obstinate sinners are addressed. Such were far from acceptance, but they were summoned to hearken to the word of the Lord. The salvation of a sinner begins with a humble and contrite heart, that trembles at God's word, with godly sorrow working true repentance, and faith in his mercy, through the obedience unto death of our Divine Surety. Christ, as the Divine righteousness and salvation to his people, would come in the appointed time. His salvation abides in his church for all believers.
Key Words
בֵּל: Bel, the Baal of the Babylonians
כָּרַע: to bend the knee; by implication, to sink, to prostrate
נְבוֹ: Nebo, the name of a Babylonian deity, also of a mountain in Moab, and of a place in Palestine
קָרַס: to hunch, i.e. be hump-backed
עָצָב: an (idolatrous) image
חַי: alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively
בְּהֵמָה: properly, a dumb beast; especially any large quadruped or animal (often collective)
נְשׂוּאָה: something borne, i.e. a load
עָמַס: to load, i.e. impose aburden (or figuratively, infliction)
מַשָּׂא: a burden; specifically, tribute, or (abstractly) porterage; figuratively, an utterance, chiefly adoom, especially singing; mental, desire
Cross References
Isaiah 46Direct parallel naming Bel and Merodach (likened to Nebo) being put to shame and broken.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Uses the metaphor of God carrying His people like an eagle or nurse, contrasting with carried idols.
Supported by JFB
Explicitly names Cyrus as the man executing God's counsel to rebuild Jerusalem.
Supported by JFB
Echoes the promise of God's faithfulness and presence into old age and gray hairs.
Supported by JFB
Identical rhetorical question challenging the hearer to compare or liken God to any image.
Supported by JFB
Parallels the absurdity of praying to wooden gods that cannot save.
Supported by JFB
Declaring future events of old is God's unique credential over silent idols.
Supported by JFB
Describes national gods going into captivity alongside their priests and princes.
Supported by JFB
Highlights God's unchangeable nature ('I am He') throughout all generations.
Supported by JFB
Exhortation to 'be men' in understanding, putting away childish, idolatrous thinking.
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Contrasts those 'far from righteousness' with the righteousness God brings near in Christ.
Supported by JFB
Idols must be carried because they cannot walk, exposing their helplessness.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels Cyrus being raised up from the East to execute judgment.
Supported by JFB
Direct parallel term for the 'stout-hearted' who are brought low by God.
Supported by JFB