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Babylon’s Idols

46 Bel bows down;
    Nebo is stooping.
Their idols are on[a] animals[b] and on[c] cattle;
    your cargo[d] is carried as a burden on[e] weary animals.
They stoop;
    they bow down together.
They are not able to save the burden,
    but[f] they themselves go[g] in captivity.
“Listen to me, house of Jacob,
    and all the remnant of the house of Israel
who have been carried from the belly,
    who have been carried from the womb:
Even[h] to your old age I am he;
    even[i] to your advanced age I myself will support you.
I myself have made you,
    and I myself will carry you,
and I myself will support you,
    and I will save you.
To whom will you liken me,
    and count as equal,
and compare with me,
    as though[j] we were alike?
Those who lavish gold from the purse
    and weigh out silver in the balance scales;
hire a goldsmith[k]
    and he makes him a god;
they bow down,
    indeed they bow in worship.
They carry it on their shoulder;
    they support it and they set it in its place,
and it stands in position.
    It cannot be removed from its place;
even when he cries out to it, it does not answer.
    It does not save him from his trouble.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 46:1 Literally “to”
  2. Isaiah 46:1 Hebrew “animal”
  3. Isaiah 46:1 Literally “to”
  4. Isaiah 46:1 Literally “things that are carried”
  5. Isaiah 46:1 Literally “to”
  6. Isaiah 46:2 Or “and”
  7. Isaiah 46:2 Literally “their inner self goes”
  8. Isaiah 46:4 Or “And”
  9. Isaiah 46:4 Or “And”
  10. Isaiah 46:5 Or “and”
  11. Isaiah 46:6 Literally “one who smelts”