Isaiah 46:1-7
New English Translation
The Lord Carries His People
46 Bel[a] kneels down,
Nebo[b] bends low.
Their images weigh down animals and beasts.[c]
Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals.[d]
2 Together they bend low and kneel down;
they are unable to rescue the images;[e]
they themselves[f] head off into captivity.[g]
3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,[h]
all you who are left from the family of Israel,[i]
you who have been carried from birth,[j]
you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.[k]
4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you,[l]
even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
I made you and I will support you;
I will carry you and rescue you.[m]
5 To whom can you compare and liken me?
Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!
6 Those who empty out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on the scale[n]
hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.
They then bow down and worship it.
7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;
they put it in its place and it just stands there;
it does not[o] move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;
it does not deliver him from his distress.
Notas al pie
- Isaiah 46:1 sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.
- Isaiah 46:1 sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.
- Isaiah 46:1 tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”
- Isaiah 46:1 tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”
- Isaiah 46:2 tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.
- Isaiah 46:2 tn Heb “Their soul/life has gone into captivity.
- Isaiah 46:2 sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.
- Isaiah 46:3 tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV “descendants of Jacob.”
- Isaiah 46:3 tn Heb “and all the remnant of the house of Israel.”
- Isaiah 46:3 tn Heb “from the womb” (so NRSV); KJV “from the belly”; NAB “from your infancy.”
- Isaiah 46:3 tn Heb “who have been lifted up from the womb.”
- Isaiah 46:4 tn Heb “until old age, I am he” (NRSV similar); NLT “I will be your God throughout your lifetime.”
- Isaiah 46:4 sn Unlike the weary idol gods, whose images must be carried by animals, the Lord carries his weary people.
- Isaiah 46:6 tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.
- Isaiah 46:7 tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.
Isaiah 46:1-7
American Standard Version
46 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. 2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne by me from their birth, that have been carried from the womb; 4 and even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver. 5 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? 6 Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship. 7 They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth, from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
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