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Read the Bible

Brenton's Septuagint

Isaiah 41:24

whence ye are, and whence is your works: they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Condescension of God;   Idolatry;   The Topic Concordance - Resurrection;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Idolatry;  

Dictionaries:

- Holman Bible Dictionary - God;   Isaiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Isaiah, Book of;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Prophet;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Divination;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - War;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Nothing;   Nought;   Omniscience;  

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.
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.
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.
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 Your judgement draws nigh, saith the Lord God; your counsel have drawn nigh, saith the King of Jacob. 22 Let them draw nigh, and declare to you what things shall come to pass; or tell us what things were of old, and we will apply our understanding, and we shall know what are the last and the future things: 23 tell us, declare ye to us the things that are coming on at the last time, and we shall know that ye are gods: do good, and do evil, and we shall wonder, and see at the same time 24 whence ye are, and whence is your works: they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth. 25 But I have raised up him that comes from the north, and him that comes from the rising of the sun: they shall be called by my name: let the princes come, and as potter’s clay, and as a potter treading clay, so shall ye be trodden down. 26 For who will declare the things from the beginning, that we may know also the former things, and we will say that they are true? there is no one that speaks beforehand, nor anyone that hears your words. 27 I will give dominion to Sion, and will comfort Jerusalem by the way. 28 For from among the nations, behold, there was no one; and of their idols there was none to declare anything: and if I should ask them, Whence are ye? they could not answer me. 29 For these are your makers, as ye think, and they that cause you to err in vain.

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
And it was morning, and his soul was troubled; and he sent and called all the interpreters of Egypt, and all her wise men; and Pharao related to them his dream, and there was no one to interpret it to Pharao.
Exodus 8:19
So the charmers said to Pharao, This is the finger of God. But the heart of Pharao was hardened, and he hearkened not to them, as the Lord said.
Daniel 4:7
I had a vision upon my bed; and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great.

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.


 
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