Isaiah 46: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The chapter opens with the Babylonian gods Bel and Nebo being hauled away as cargo on pack animals, unable to rescue even themselves. Against that picture, God tells the house of Jacob that he has carried them since birth and will keep carrying them into old age. He challenges anyone to compare him to a metal statue that has to be lifted into place and cannot answer when called, and he states that he alone announces the end from the beginning and summons a man from the east to carry out his plan. He closes by telling stubborn people, far from righteousness, that his righteousness and salvation are near.

Claim by Claim

1. 46:1
   • Bel bows down.
   • Nebo collapses.
   • The idols of Bel and Nebo were placed on wild beasts and on cattle.
   • The images the people carry are loaded up as cargo.
   • The images are a burden to the weary animal.
2. 46:2
   • The gods collapse and bow down together.
   • They were not able to rescue the load.
   • They themselves have gone into captivity.
3. 46:3
   • God calls the house of Jacob to listen to him.
   • God calls all the remnant of the house of Israel to listen to him.
   • God says they have been carried by him from the belly.
   • God says they have been borne by him from the womb.
4. 46:4
   • God says that even to their old age he is the same one.
   • God says he will carry them even to their gray hairs.
   • God says he has made them.
   • God says he will bear them.
   • God says he will carry them.
   • God says he will rescue them.
5. 46:5
   • God asks to whom they will liken him.
   • God asks to whom they will make him equal.
   • God asks to whom they will compare him so that he and that thing would be alike.
6. 46:6
   • They pour out gold from the bag.
   • They weigh silver on the scales.
   • They hire a metalworker.
   • The metalworker makes the gold and silver into a god.
   • They bow down to it.
   • They worship it.
7. 46:7
   • They lift the idol onto the shoulder.
   • They carry it.
   • They set it down in its place.
   • It stands there.
   • It does not move from its place.
   • A person cries out to it.
   • It does not answer.
   • It does not save him from his distress.
8. 46:8
   • God commands them to remember this.
   • God commands them to show themselves men.
   • God commands the transgressors to bring it back to mind.
9. 46:9
   • God commands them to remember the former things of long ago.
   • God says he is God.
   • God says there is no other.
   • God says there is none like him.
10. 46:10
    • God declares the end from the beginning.
    • God declares from ancient times the things that have not yet been done.
    • God says his counsel will stand.
    • God says he will do all that he desires.
11. 46:11
    • God calls a bird of prey from the east.
    • God calls from a far country the man who carries out his counsel.
    • God says he has spoken it.
    • God says he will also bring it about.
    • God says he has formed the plan.
    • God says he will also do it.
12. 46:12
    • God calls the stubborn-hearted to listen to him.
    • God says they are far from righteousness.
13. 46:13
    • God says he brings his righteousness near.
    • God says his righteousness will not be far off.
    • God says his salvation will not delay.
    • God says he will place salvation in Zion.
    • God says he will give his glory to Israel.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

46:1

Bel and Nebo were the two great gods of Babylon. "Bel" means "lord" and was the title of Marduk, the city's chief god; Nebo (Nabu) was his son, the god of writing and wisdom, whose name appears in Babylonian royal names such as Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus. Once a year their statues were paraded through Babylon on wagons. "Carriages" in 1611 English meant the things being carried, the load, not the carts; the picture is of the gods' own images strapped to pack animals as loot.

46:2

When an empire fell, the victors hauled off the statues of its gods as trophies; the Babylonians themselves had done this to other nations. To first hearers, gods going "into captivity" was a literal, familiar sight, not a figure of speech.

46:3

Jacob was renamed Israel, so "house of Jacob" and "house of Israel" are two names for the same people. "The remnant" is the standard term for those left alive after invasion and deportation, the survivors of a nation that has already been broken up.

46:4

"Hoar hairs" is old English for white or gray hair. It simply means being very old.

46:6

There was no coined money yet, so silver was weighed out on scales for each transaction. The god being made is typically a carved wooden core overlaid with hammered gold; the customer supplies the metal and pays the smith for the work.

46:7

The Hebrew uses the same words for carrying here as in verses 3 and 4: these people carry their god on their shoulders, while the speaker says he carries his people. The repetition is deliberate in the original.

46:8

The Hebrew word behind "shew yourselves men" occurs only here and its meaning is uncertain; ancient and modern translators have read it as "stand firm," "act like men," or "be ashamed." "Transgressors" means those who have crossed a line or broken faith with an agreement, not criminals in general.

46:9

"The former things" is a set phrase in this part of Isaiah for events announced in advance and since fulfilled, the track record being offered as evidence, as against the "things that are not yet done" in the next verse.

46:10

"Counsel" here means a settled plan or decision, not advice. "Pleasure" in 1611 English meant what someone has determined to do (one's will), rather than enjoyment.

46:11

"A ravenous bird" is a bird of prey, a standard image for a swift conqueror sweeping in. Isaiah has already named this man from the east twice: Cyrus of Persia, who took Babylon (44:28; 45:1).

46:12

"Stouthearted" in 1611 English meant hard-hearted or obstinate, not brave. It is an insult here, not a compliment.

46:13

In these chapters "righteousness" and "salvation" work as a matched pair meaning God setting things right and rescuing, a legal vindication as much as a deliverance. Zion is the hill Jerusalem was built on, used as a name for the city itself.