Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.
- BSB Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
- NKJV Indeed you are nothing, And your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.
- NASB Behold, you are less than nothing, And your work is less than nothing! He who chooses you is an abomination.
- NLT But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all. Those who choose you pollute themselves.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God declares the idols to be nothing, and those who choose them an abomination.
Overview
The verdict of the trial: the idols and their works amount to nothing, and their worshipers share their detestable emptiness. Idolatry is not a harmless error but an abomination before God. This sober judgment underscores the exclusive worship due the Creator alone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Cor 8:4As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
- Ps 115:8They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
- Isa 41:29Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
- Jer 10:8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
- Jer 10:14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Isa 44:9–10They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
- Jer 51:17–18Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Isa 37:19And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
- Deut 27:15Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
- Isa 66:24And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
- Rev 17:5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
- Deut 7:26Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 41:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.