Isaiah 41 · Verse 24

Isaiah 41:24

Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Isaiah 41:24, King James Version

Isaiah 41:24 in other translations

BSBBehold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
WEBBehold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.
ASVBehold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.
YLTLo, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination--it fixeth on you.
DARBYBehold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you....
BBEBut you are nothing, and your work is of no value: foolish is he who takes you for his gods.
WebsterBehold, ye are of nothing, and your work of naught: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

What does Isaiah 41:24 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
24. of nothing--(See on Is 40:17). The Hebrew text is here corrupt; so English Version treats it. abomination--abstract for concrete: not merely abominable, but the essence of whatever is so (De 18:12). chooseth you--as an object of worship.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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 Isa 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 41:21-29

There needs no more to show the folly of sin, than to bring to notice the reasons given in defence of it. There is nothing in idols worthy of regard. They are less than nothing, and worse than nothing. Let the advocates of other doctrines than that of salvation through Christ, bring their arguments. Can they tell of a cure for human depravity? Jehovah has power which cannot be withstood; this he will make appear…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 41:21-29 →

Isaiah 41:24 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הֵן\־hen-here!H2005
אַתֶּ֣ם'a.TemyouH859
מֵאַ֔יִןme.'A.yin[are] from nothingH369
וּפָעָלְכֶ֖םu.fa.'a.le.Khemand work yourH6467
מֵאָ֑פַעme.'A.fa'[is] from something worthlessH659
תּוֹעֵבָ֖הto.'e.Vah[is] an abominationH8441
יִבְחַ֥רyiv.Char[one who] he choosesH977
בָּכֶֽם\׃ba.Khem<in> you

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 41:24

  • 1 Corinthians 8:4

    As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

  • Psalms 115:8

    They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

  • Isaiah 41:29

    Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

  • Jeremiah 10:14

    Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

  • Jeremiah 10:8

    But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.

  • Deuteronomy 7:26

    Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

  • Isaiah 66:24

    And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

  • Jeremiah 51:17-18

    Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

  • Isaiah 44:9-10

    They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

  • Isaiah 37:19

    And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

  • Deuteronomy 27:15

    Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

  • Revelation 17:5

    And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ye are.
29; 44:9,10; Ps 115:8; Jer 10:8,14; 51:17,18; 1Co 8:4
of nothing. or, worse than nothing. of nought. or, worsethan of a viper. an abomination.
66:24; De 7:26; 27:15; Re 17:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 41:23

    Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

  • Isaiah 41:24

    Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.

  • Isaiah 41:25

    I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.

Read all of Isaiah 41

Isaiah 41:24 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		He aquí que vosotros sois de nada, y vuestras obras de vanidad; abominación el que os escogió.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Voici, vous êtes moins que rien, et votre œuvre est du néant: qui vous choisit est une abomination…
German
Elberfelder 1871		Siehe, ihr seid nichts, und euer Tun ist Nichtigkeit; ein Greuel ist, wer euch erwählt.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Ecce vos estis ex nihilo, et opus vestrum ex eo quod non est: abominatio est qui elegit vos.