Isaiah 41:24

Amplified Bible

Hear this! You [idols] are less than nothing, And your work is worthless; The worshiper who chooses you [as a god] is repulsive.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Look, you are nothingand your work is worthless.Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.

King James Version
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

English Standard Version
Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.

New American Standard Bible
Behold, you are less than nothing, And your work is less than nothing! He who chooses you is an abomination.

New Century Version
You gods are less than nothing; you can't do anything. Those who worship you should be hated.

World English Bible
Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, ye are of no value, and your making is of naught: man hath chosen an abomination by them.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, you are nothing,And your work is non‑existent;He who chooses you is an abomination.

Berean Standard Bible
Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

Contemporary English Version
You idols are nothing, and you are powerless. To worship you would be disgusting.

Complete Jewish Bible
You can't! — because you are less than nothing. Whoever chooses you is an abomination!

Darby Translation
Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you. …

Easy-to-Read Version
"Look, you false gods are worthless. You cannot do anything. Only some horrible fool would want to worship you."

George Lamsa Translation
Behold, you are nothing, and your works are corrupt; choosing you is an abomination.

Good News Translation
You and all you do are nothing; those who worship you are disgusting!

Lexham English Bible
Look! you are nothing, and your work is something worthless; whoever chooses you is an abomination.

Literal Translation
Behold, you are of nothing; and your work of nothing; he who chooses you is an abomination.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, ye goddes are of naught, & yor makinge is of naught, but abhomination hath chosen you.

American Standard Version
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

Bible in Basic English
But you are nothing, and your work is of no value: foolish is he who takes you for his gods.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, ye are nothing, and your work a thing of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

King James Version (1611)
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your worke of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde ye are gods of naught, and your making is of naught: yea abhomible is the man that hath chosen you.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
whence ye are, and whence is your works: they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth.

English Revised Version
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! ye ben of nouyt, and youre werk is of that that is not; he that chees you, is abhomynacioun.

Update Bible Version
Look, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing; he that chooses you is disgusting.

Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of naught: an abomination [is he that] chooseth you.

New English Translation
Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent; the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.

New King James Version
Indeed you are nothing, And your work is nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.

New Living Translation
But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all. Those who choose you pollute themselves.

New Life Bible
See, you are nothing. And your work is nothing. He who chooses you is hated and sinful.

New Revised Standard
You, indeed, are nothing and your work is nothing at all; whoever chooses you is an abomination.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! ye, are, of nought, And your work is a puff of breath, - An abomination, he that chooseth you!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.

Revised Standard Version
Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nought; an abomination is he who chooses you.

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination -- it fixeth on you.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Behold, you are of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you is an abomination.

Contextual Overview

²¹"Present your case [for idols made by men's hands]," says the LORD. "Produce your evidence [of divinity]," Says the king of Jacob. ²²Let them bring forward [their evidence] and tell us what is going to happen. Regarding the former events, tell what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome; Or announce to us the things that are going to come. ²³Tell us the things that are to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, you should do something good or do evil, that we may be afraid and fear [you] together [as we observe the miracle]. ²⁴Hear this! You [idols] are less than nothing, And your work is worthless; The worshiper who chooses you [as a god] is repulsive. ²⁵"I have stirred up and put into action one from the north [the king of Persia, Cyrus the Great], and he has come; From the rising of the sun he will call on My Name [in prayer]. And he will trample on [the Babylonian] officials as on mortar, Even as a potter treads clay." ²⁶Who [among the idols] has declared this from the beginning, so that we could know? Or from earlier times, so that we could say, "He is [unquestionably] right!"? In fact, there was no one who declared it, Indeed, there was no one who proclaimed it; There was no one at all who heard you speak [for you pagan gods are speechless]. ²⁷"I was first to say to Zion, 'Listen carefully, here they are [the Jews who will be restored to their own land].' And to Jerusalem, 'I will provide a messenger (Isaiah) to bring the good news [that Cyrus will be stirred up and put into action to save them].' ²⁸"But when I look [on the pagan prophets and priests], there is no one [who could predict these events], And there is no counselor among them, Who, if I ask, can give an answer. ²⁹"In fact, all of these [pagan prophets and priests] are false; Their works are worthless, Their cast images are [merely] wind and emptiness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye are: Isaiah 41:29, Isaiah 44:9, Isaiah 44:10, Psalms 115:8, Jeremiah 10:8, Jeremiah 10:14, Jeremiah 51:17, Jeremiah 51:18, 1 Corinthians 8:4

of nothing: or, worse than nothing

of nought: or, worse than of a viper

an abomination: Isaiah 66:24, Deuteronomy 7:26, Deuteronomy 27:15, Revelation 17:5

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 12:21 - cannot profit Isaiah 34:12 - nothing Isaiah 41:11 - as nothing Jeremiah 10:5 - do evil Jeremiah 10:15 - vanity Acts 28:3 - came

Cross-References

Genesis 41:8
So when morning came his spirit was troubled and disturbed and he sent and called for all the magicians and all the wise men of Egypt. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them to him.

Exodus 8:19
Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the [supernatural] finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

Daniel 4:7
"Then the magicians, the enchanters (Magi), the Chaldeans [who were the master astrologers] and the diviners came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it and make known its meaning to me.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, ye are of nothing,.... Not as to the matter of them, for they were made of gold, silver, brass, c. but as to the divinity of them: there was none in them, they were of no worth and value they could do nothing, either good or evil, either help their friends, or hurt their enemies; yea, they were less than nothing; for the words may be rendered by way of comparison, "behold, ye are less than nothing"; a. :-;

and your work of nought; the workmanship bestowed on them, in casting or carving them, was all to no purpose, and answered no end; or the work they did, or pretended to do, their feigned oracles, and false predictions: or, "worse than nothing": some render it, "worse than a viper" b; a word like this is used for one, Isaiah 49:5 and so denotes the poisonous and pernicious effects of idolatry:

an abomination is he that chooseth you; as the object of his worship; he is not only abominable, but an abomination itself to God, and to all men of sense and religion; for the choice he makes of an idol to be his god shows him to be a man void of common sense and reason, and destitute of all true religion and godliness, and must be a stupid sottish creature. The Targum is,

"an abomination is that which ye have chosen for yourselves, or in which ye delight;''

meaning their idols. This is the final issue of the controversy, and the judgment passed both upon the idols and their worshippers.

a אתם מאין "vos minus quam nihil [estis]", Junius Tremellius, Piscator. b מאפע "pejus [opere] viperae", Junius & Tremellius "pejus [est opere] basilisci", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, 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‛) occurs in no other place. Gesenius supposes that this is a corrupt reading for אפס 'epes (nothing), and so our translators have regarded it, and in this opinion most expositors agree. Hahn has adopted this reading in his Hebrew Bible. The Jewish rabbis suppose generally that the word אפע 'epa‛ is the same word as אפעה 'eph‛eh, a viper, according to the reading in the margin. But this interpretation is contrary to the connection, as well as the ancient versions. The Vulgate and Chaldee render it, ‘Of nought.’ The Syriac renders it, ‘Your works are of the sword.’ This is probably one of the few instances in which there has been a corruption of the Hebrew text (compare Isaiah 40:17; Isaiah 41:12, Isaiah 41:19).

An abomination is he that chooseth you - They who select idols as the object of worship, and offer to them homage, are regarded as abominable by God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 41:24. Your 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.