Ésaïe 44:9

Louis Segond

Ceux qui fabriquent des idoles ne sont tous que vanité, Et leurs plus belles oeuvres ne servent à rien; Elles le témoignent elles-mêmes: Elles n'ont ni la vue, ni l'intelligence, Afin qu'ils soient dans la confusion.

Parallel Translations

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Les ouvriers des images taillées ne sont tous qu'un rien, et leurs choses les plus précieux ne profitent de rien; et ils leur sont témoins qu'ils ne voient point, et ne connaissent point, afin qu'ils soient honteux.

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
Les faiseurs d'idoles ne sont tous que néant, et leurs plus belles œuvres ne servent à rien; et elles-mêmes le leur témoignent; elles ne voient point et ne connaissent point; c'est pourquoi ils seront rendus honteux.

Darby's French Translation
Ceux qui forment une image taillée sont tous un néant, et leurs choses désirables ne sont d'aucun profit; et ils en sont eux-mêmes les témoins: ils ne voient pas, et ils ne connaissent pas, afin qu'ils soient honteux.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

make: Isaiah 41:24, Isaiah 41:29, Deuteronomy 27:15, Psalms 97:7, Jeremiah 10:3-8, Jeremiah 10:14, Jeremiah 10:15

and their: Isaiah 2:20, Isaiah 2:21, Isaiah 37:18-20, Isaiah 46:1, Isaiah 46:2, Isaiah 46:6, Isaiah 46:7, Judges 10:14, 1 Kings 18:26-40, Jeremiah 2:11, Jeremiah 2:27, Jeremiah 2:28, Jeremiah 14:22, Jeremiah 16:19, Jeremiah 16:20, Daniel 5:23, Hosea 8:4-6, Habakkuk 2:18-20, 1 Corinthians 8:4

delectable: Heb. desirable, Daniel 11:38

their own: Isaiah 44:18, Isaiah 44:20, Isaiah 42:18, Isaiah 43:8, Isaiah 45:20, Psalms 115:8, Psalms 135:18, Romans 1:22, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 4:18, Ephesians 5:8

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:25 - ashamed Exodus 20:4 - General Exodus 32:4 - fashioned Leviticus 26:1 - Ye shall Deuteronomy 4:28 - neither see Judges 17:3 - a graven image 1 Samuel 12:21 - cannot profit 1 Kings 14:9 - thou hast gone 1 Kings 16:7 - with the work 1 Kings 20:6 - pleasant 2 Kings 17:16 - molten images 2 Kings 17:29 - made gods 2 Kings 19:18 - for they were 1 Chronicles 16:26 - all the gods 2 Chronicles 25:15 - which could Psalms 135:15 - idols Isaiah 37:19 - no gods Isaiah 45:16 - General Jeremiah 2:5 - and are Jeremiah 2:13 - broken cisterns Jeremiah 3:23 - in vain Jeremiah 10:5 - do evil Hosea 5:5 - testify Hosea 8:6 - the workman Hosea 10:6 - receive Zechariah 10:2 - the idols Acts 7:41 - rejoiced Acts 14:15 - from Acts 17:29 - we ought Romans 1:21 - but became Galatians 4:8 - ye did Revelation 9:20 - and idols

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They that make a graven image are all of them vanity,.... They show themselves to be vain men, by making such vain things as graven images are; both images, makers, and worshippers of them are all vain, yea vanity itself:

and their delectable things shall not profit; their idols made of gold and silver, or covered with them, and adorned with precious stones, and so delightful and desirable, are of no manner of profit and advantage, unless the matter they are made of, and the ornaments about them, were converted to other uses; yet not as gods, and worshipped as such, who can be of no service to their worshippers to help them in distress, or save them from ruin:

and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know that they may be ashamed; they that made them must be witnesses against themselves, and the idols they have made; they must be convicted in their own consciences that they cannot be gods; they must be sensible that they have no sight nor knowledge of persons and things; that they cannot see, nor know their worshippers, nor their wants, and cannot give them relief; and this they ought to acknowledge to their own shame that made them, and that their worshippers of them might be ashamed also.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They that make a graven image - A graven image is one that is cut, or sculptured out of wood or stone, in contradistinction from one that is molten, which is made by being cast. Here it is used to denote an image, or an idol-god in general. God had asserted in the previous verses his own divinity, and he now proceeds to show, at length, the vanity of idols, and of idol-worship. This same topic was introduced in Isaiah 40:18-20 (see the notes at that passage), but it is here pursued at greater length, and in a tone and manner far more sarcastic and severe. Perhaps the prophet had two immediate objects in view; first, to reprove the idolatrous spirit in his own time, which prevailed especially in the early part of the reign of Manasseh; and secondly, to show to the exile Jews in Babylon that the gods of the Babylonians could not protect their city, and that Yahweh could rescue his own people. He begins, therefore, by saying, that the makers of the idols were all of them vanity. Of course, the idols themselves could have no more power than their makers, and must be vanity also.

Are all of them vanity - (See the note at Isaiah 41:29).

And their delectable things - Margin, ‘Desirable.’ The sense is, their valued works, their idol-gods, on which they have lavished so much expense, and which they prize so highly.

Shall not profit - Shall not be able to aid or protect them; shall be of no advantage to them (see Habakkuk 2:18).

And they are their own witnesses - They can foretell nothing; they can furnish no aid; they cannot defend in times of danger. This may refer either to the worshippers, or to the idols themselves - and was alike true of both.

They see not - They have no power of discerning anything. How can they then foresee future events?

That they may be ashamed - The same sentiment is repeated in Isaiah 44:11, and in Isaiah 45:16. The sense is, that shame and confusion must await all who put their trust in an idol-god.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 44:9-10. That they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god - "That every one may be ashamed, that he hath formed a god"] The Bodleian MS., one of the first extant for its antiquity and authority, instead of מי mi, at the beginning of the tenth verse, has כי ki, which greatly clears up the construction of a very obscure passage. Doederlein approves of this reading. The Septuagint likewise closely connect in construction the end of Isaiah 44:9 with the beginning of Isaiah 44:10; and wholly omit the interrogative מי mi, which embarrasses the sentence: Αισχυνθησονται οἱ πλασσοντες Θεον, και γλυφοντες παντες ανωφελη· "But they shall be confounded that make a god; and they who engrave unprofitable things;" agreeably to the reading of the MS. above mentioned.