以赛亚书 41:24

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

看哪！你們屬於無有，你們的作為都屬於虛空，那選擇你們的是可厭惡的。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
看 哪 ， 你 们 属 乎 虚 无 ； 你 们 的 作 为 也 属 乎 虚 空 。 那 选 择 你 们 的 是 可 憎 恶 的 。

Contextual Overview

²¹ The Lord says, "Present your case." The King of Jacob says, "Tell me your arguments. ²² Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Have them tell us what happened in the beginning. Then we will think about these things, and we will know how they will turn out. Or tell us what will happen in the future. ²³ Tell us what is coming next so we will believe that you are gods. Do something, whether it is good or bad, and make us afraid. ²⁴ You gods are less than nothing; you can't do anything. Those who worship you should be hated. ²⁵ "I have brought someone to come out of the north I have called by name a man from the east, and he knows me. He walks on kings as if they were mud, just as a potter walks on the clay. ²⁶ Who told us about this before it happened? Who told us ahead of time so we could say, ‘He was right'? None of you told us anything; none of you told us before it happened; no one heard you tell about it. ²⁷ I, the Lord , was the first one to tell Jerusalem that the people were coming home. I sent a messenger to Jerusalem with the good news. ²⁸ I look at the idols, but there is not one that can answer. None of them can give advice; none of them can answer my questions. ²⁹ Look, all these idols are false. They cannot do anything; they are worth nothing.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye are: Isaiah 41:29, Isaiah 44:9, Isaiah 44:10, Psalms 115:8, Jeremiah 10:8, Jeremiah 10:14, Jeremiah 51:17, Jeremiah 51:18, 1 Corinthians 8:4

of nothing: or, worse than nothing

of nought: or, worse than of a viper

an abomination: Isaiah 66:24, Deuteronomy 7:26, Deuteronomy 27:15, Revelation 17:5

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 12:21 - cannot profit Isaiah 34:12 - nothing Isaiah 41:11 - as nothing Jeremiah 10:5 - do evil Jeremiah 10:15 - vanity Acts 28:3 - came

Cross-References

Genesis 41:8
The next morning the king was troubled about these dreams, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. The king told them his dreams, but no one could explain their meaning to him.

Exodus 8:19
So the magicians told the king that the power of God had done this. But the king was stubborn and refused to listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Daniel 4:7
The fortune-tellers, magicians, and wise men came, and I told them about the dream. But they could not tell me what it meant.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, ye are of nothing,.... Not as to the matter of them, for they were made of gold, silver, brass, c. but as to the divinity of them: there was none in them, they were of no worth and value they could do nothing, either good or evil, either help their friends, or hurt their enemies; yea, they were less than nothing; for the words may be rendered by way of comparison, "behold, ye are less than nothing"; a. :-;

and your work of nought; the workmanship bestowed on them, in casting or carving them, was all to no purpose, and answered no end; or the work they did, or pretended to do, their feigned oracles, and false predictions: or, "worse than nothing": some render it, "worse than a viper" b; a word like this is used for one, Isaiah 49:5 and so denotes the poisonous and pernicious effects of idolatry:

an abomination is he that chooseth you; as the object of his worship; he is not only abominable, but an abomination itself to God, and to all men of sense and religion; for the choice he makes of an idol to be his god shows him to be a man void of common sense and reason, and destitute of all true religion and godliness, and must be a stupid sottish creature. The Targum is,

"an abomination is that which ye have chosen for yourselves, or in which ye delight;''

meaning their idols. This is the final issue of the controversy, and the judgment passed both upon the idols and their worshippers.

a אתם מאין "vos minus quam nihil [estis]", Junius Tremellius, Piscator. b מאפע "pejus [opere] viperae", Junius & Tremellius "pejus [est opere] basilisci", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, ye are of nothing - Margin, ‘Worse than nothing.’ This refers to idols; and the idea is, that they were utterly vain and powerless; they were as unable to render aid to their worshippers as absolute nothingness would be, and all their confidence in them was vain and foolish.

And your work - All that you do, or all that it is pretended that you do.

Of nought - Margin, ‘Worse than a viper.’ The word used here in the common Hebrew text (אפע 'epa‛) occurs in no other place. Gesenius supposes that this is a corrupt reading for אפס 'epes (nothing), and so our translators have regarded it, and in this opinion most expositors agree. Hahn has adopted this reading in his Hebrew Bible. The Jewish rabbis suppose generally that the word אפע 'epa‛ is the same word as אפעה 'eph‛eh, a viper, according to the reading in the margin. But this interpretation is contrary to the connection, as well as the ancient versions. The Vulgate and Chaldee render it, ‘Of nought.’ The Syriac renders it, ‘Your works are of the sword.’ This is probably one of the few instances in which there has been a corruption of the Hebrew text (compare Isaiah 40:17; Isaiah 41:12, Isaiah 41:19).

An abomination is he that chooseth you - They who select idols as the object of worship, and offer to them homage, are regarded as abominable by God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 41:24. 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 Isaiah 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.