Bible/Isaiah/Chapter 46

Isaiah 46

Isaiah 46 summary

Isaiah 46 is the 46th chapter of the book of Isaiah, in the Old Testament — a book of prophecy. It has 13 verses (about 351 words, a 2-minute read). Its themes touch on Idolatry, Unity of God and Impenitence. Scripture links it to 12 notable parallel passages elsewhere in the Bible.

Read Isaiah 46

1Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.

2They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. themselves: Heb. their soul

3Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

4And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

5To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

6They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

7They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

8Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.

9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

10Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

11Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. that: Heb. of my counsel

12Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:

13I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

Topics & themes in Isaiah 46

Cross-references

Notable parallels to Isaiah 46 from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

Genesis 2:7

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. of the dust: Heb. dust of the ground

Exodus 20:12

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 21:17

And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. curseth: or, revileth

Leviticus 5:15

If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:

Leviticus 19:16

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 20:9

For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

Leviticus 22:10

There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.

Numbers 30:2

If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. break: Heb. profane

Deuteronomy 27:16

Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deuteronomy 32:35

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Judges 1:1

Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?

Judges 1:2

And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

Commentary on Isaiah 46

HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:1
ns are here spoken of that are ruining their own estates, and will be beggars shortly, and therefore are not to be trusted with any good security:—1. Those that will be bound for any body that will ask them, that entangle themselves in rash suretiship to oblige their idle companions; they will break at last, nay, they cannot hold out long; these waste by wholesale. 2. Those that are in league with abandoned women, that treat them, and court them, and keep company with them. They will be beggars in a little time; never give them credit without good pledge. Strange women have strange ways of impoverishing men to enrich themselves. 17 Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. Note, 1. Sin may possibly
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:2
be pleasant in the commission: Bread of deceit, wealth gotten by fraud, by lying and oppression, may be sweet to a man, and the more sweet for its being ill-gotten, such pleasure does the carnal mind take in the success of its wicked projects. All the pleasures and profits of sin are bread of deceit. They are stolen, for they are forbidden fruit; and they will deceive men, for they are not what they promise. For a time, however, they are rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, and the sinner blesses himself in them. But, 2. It will be bitter in reflection. Afterwards the sinner's mouth shall be filled with gravel. When his conscience is awakened, when he sees himself cheated, and becomes apprehensive of the wrath of God against him for his sin, how painful and uneasy then is the thought of it! The pleasures of sin are but for a season, and are succeeded with sorrow. Some nations have punished malefactors by mingling gravel with their bread. 18 Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war. Note, 1. It is good in every thing to act
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:3
with deliberation, and to consult with ourselves at least, and, in matters of moment, with our friends, too, before we determine, but especially to ask counsel of God, and beg direction from him, and observe the guidance of this eye. This is the way to have both our minds and our purposes established, and to succeed well in our affairs; whereas what is done hastily and with precipitation is repented of at leisure. Take time, and you will have done the sooner. Deliberandum est diu, quod statuendum est semel — A final decision should be preceded by mature deliberation. 2. It is especially our wisdom to be cautious in making war. Consider, and take advice, whether the war should be begun or no, whether it be just, whether it be prudent, whether we be a match for the enemy, and able to carry it on when it is too late to retreat ( Luke xiv. 31 ); and, when it is begun, consider how and by what arts it may be prosecuted, for management is as necessary as courage. Going to law is a kind of going to war, and therefore must be done with good advice, Prov. xxv. 8 . The rule among the Romans was nec sequi bellum, nec fugere — neither to urge war nor yet to shun it. 19 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. Tw
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:4
o sorts of people are dangerous to be conversed with:—1. Tale-bearers, though they are commonly flatterers, and by fair speeches insinuate themselves into men's acquaintance. Those are unprincipled people that go about carrying stories, that make mischief among neighbours and relations, that sow in the minds of people jealousies of their governors, of their ministers, and of one another, that reveal secrets which they are entrusted with or which by unfair means they come to the knowledge of, under pretence of guessing at men's thoughts and intentions, tell that of them which is really false. "Be not familiar with such; do not give them the hearing when they tell their tales and reveal secrets, for you may be sure that they will betray your secrets too and tell tales of you." 2. Flatterers, for they are commonly tale-bearers. If a man fawn upon you, compliment and commend you, suspect him to have some design upon you, and stand upon your guard; he would pick that out of you which will serve him to make a story of to somebody else to your prejudice; therefore meddle not with him that flatters with his lips. Those too dearly love, and too dearly buy, their own praise, that will put confidence in a man and trust him with a secret or business because he flatters them. 20 Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Here is, 1. An undutiful child become very wicked by deg
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:5
rees. He began with despising his father and mother, slighting their instructions, disobeying their commands, and raging at their rebukes, but at length he arrives at such a pitch of impudence and impiety as to curse them, to give them scurrilous and opprobrious language, and to wish mischief to those that were instruments of his being and have taken so much care and pains about him, and this in defiance of God and his law, which had made this a capital crime ( Exod. xxi. 17 , Matt. xv. 4 ), and in violation of all the bonds of duty, natural affection, and gratitude. 2. An undutiful child become very miserable at last: His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness; all his honour shall be laid in the dust, and he shall for ever lose his reputation. Let him never expect any peace or comfort in his own mind, no, nor to prosper in this world. His days shall be shortened, and the lamp of his life extinguished, according to the reverse of the promise of the fifth commandment. His family shall be cut off and his posterity be a curse to him. And it will be his eternal ruin; the lamp of his happiness shall be put out in the blackness of darkness (so the word is), even that which is for ever, Jude 13 , Matt. xxii. 13 . 21 An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. Note, 1. It is possible
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:6
that an estate may be suddenly raised. There are those that will be rich, by right or wrong, who make no conscience of what they say or do if they can but get money by it, who, when it is in their power, will cheat their own father, and who sordidly spare and hoard up what they get, grudging themselves and their families food convenient and thinking all lost but what they buy land with or put out to interest. By such ways as these a man may grow rich, may grow very rich, in a little time, at his first setting out. 2. An estate that is suddenly raised is often as suddenly ruined. It was raised hastily, but, not being raised honestly, it proves soon ripe and soon rotten: The end thereof shall not be blessed of God, and, if he do not bless it, it can neither be comfortable nor of any continuance; so that he who got it at the end will be a fool. He had better have taken time and built firmly. 22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord , and he shall save thee. Those th
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:7
at live in this world must expect to have injuries done them, affronts given them, and trouble wrongfully created them, for we dwell among briers. Now here we are told what to do when we have wrong done us. 1. We must not avenge ourselves, no, nor so much as think of revenge, or design it: " Say not thou, no, not in thy heart, I will recompense evil for evil. Do not please thyself with the thought that some time or other thou shalt have an opportunity of being quits with him. Do not wish revenge, or hope for it, much less resolve upon it, no, not when the injury is fresh and the resentment of it most deep. Never say that thou wilt do a thing which thou canst not in faith pray to God to assist thee in, and that thou canst not do in mediating revenge." 2. We must refer ourselves to God, and leave it to him to plead our cause, to maintain our right, and reckon with those that do us wrong in such a way and manner as he thinks fit and in his own due time: " Wait on the Lord, and attend his pleasure, acquiesce in his will, and he does not say that he will punish him that has injured thee (instead of desiring that thou must forgive him and pray for him), but he will save thee, and that is enough. He will protect thee, so that thy passing by one injury shall not (as is commonly feared) expose thee to another; nay, he will recompense good to thee, to balance thy trouble and encourage thy patience," as David hoped, when Shimei cursed him, 2 Sam. xvi. 12 . 23 Divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord ; and a false balance is not good.
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:8
This is to the same purport with what was said v. 20 . 1. It is here repeated, because it is a sin that God doubly hates (as lying, which is of the same nature with this sin, is mentioned twice among the seven things that God hates, ch. vi. 17 , 19 ), and because it was probably a sin very much practised at that time in Israel, and therefore made light of as if there were no harm in it, under pretence that, being commonly used, there was no trading without it. 2. It is here added, A false balance is not good, to intimate that it is not only abominable to God, but unprofitable to the sinner himself; there is really no good to be got by it, no, not a good bargain, for a bargain made by fraud will prove a losing bargain in the end. 24 Man's goings are of the Lord ; how can a man then understand his own way? We are here taught
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:9
that in all our affairs, 1. We have a necessary and constant dependence upon God. All our natural actions depend upon his providence, all our spiritual actions upon his grace. The best man is no better than God makes him; and every creature is that to us which it is the will of God that it should be. Our enterprises succeed, not as we desire and design, but as God directs and disposes. The goings even of a strong man (so the word signifies) are of the Lord, for his strength is weakness without God, nor is the battle always to the strong. 2. We have no foresight of future events, and therefore know not how to forecast for them: How can a man understand his own way? How can he tell what will befal him, since God's counsels concerning him are secret, and therefore how can he of himself contrive what to do without divine direction? We so little understand our own way that we know not what is good for ourselves, and therefore we must make a virtue of necessity, and commit our way unto the Lord, in whose hand it is, follow the guidance and submit to the disposal of Providence. 25 It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:10
35" Two things, by which God is greatly affronted, men are here said to be ensnared by, and entangled not only in guilt, but in trouble and ruin at length:—1. Sacrilege, men's alienating holy things and converting them to their own use, which is here called devouring them. What is devoted in any way to the service and honour of God, for the support of religion and divine worship or the relief of the poor, ought to be conscientiously preserved to the purposes designed; and those that directly or indirectly embezzle it, or defeat the purpose for which it was given, will have a great deal to answer for. Will a man rob God in tithes and offerings? Mal. iii. 8 . Those that hurry over religious offices (their praying and preaching) and huddle them up in haste, as being impatient to get done, may be said to devour that which is holy. 2. Covenant-breaking. It is a snare to a man, after he has made vows to God, to enquire how he may evade them or get dispensed with, and to contrive excuses for the violating of them. If the matter of them was doubtful, and the expressions were ambiguous, that was his fault; he should have made them with more caution and consideration, for it will involve his conscience (if it be tender) in great perplexities, if he be to enquire concerning them afterwards ( Eccl. v. 6 ); for, when we have opened our mouth to the Lord, it is too late to think of going back, Acts v. 4 . 26 A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth the wheel over them. See here, 1. What is the business of magistrates. They are to be a terror to
HENRY_FULL · Isaiah 46:11
evil-doers. They must scatter the wicked, who are linked in confederacies to assist and embolden one another in doing mischief; and there is no doing this but by bringing the wheel over them, that is, putting the laws in execution against them, crushing their power and quashing their projects. Severity must sometimes be used to rid the country of those that are openly vicious and mischievous, debauched and debauching. 2. What is the qualification of magistrates, which is necessary in order to do this. They have need to be both pious and prudent, for it is the wise king, who is both religious and discreet, that is likely to effect the suppression of vice and reformation of manners. 27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord , searching all the inward parts of the belly. We h

Frequently asked questions

What is Isaiah 46 about?

Isaiah 46 is the 46th chapter of the book of Isaiah, in the Old Testament — a book of prophecy. It has 13 verses (about 351 words, a 2-minute read). Its themes touch on Idolatry, Unity of God and Impenitence. Scripture links it to 12 notable parallel passages elsewhere in the Bible.

How many verses are in Isaiah 46?

Isaiah 46 contains 13 verses in the King James Version.

Is Isaiah in the Old or New Testament?

Isaiah is in the Old Testament of the Bible.

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