1 Bel is bent down, Nebo is falling; their images are on the beasts and on the cattle: the things which you took about have become a weight to the tired beast. 2 They are bent down, they are falling together: they were not able to keep their images safe, but they themselves have been taken prisoner. 3 Give ear to me, O family of Jacob, and all the rest of the people of Israel, who have been supported by me from their birth, and have been my care from their earliest days: 4 Even when you are old I will be the same, and when you are grey-haired I will take care of you: I will still be responsible for what I made; yes, I will take you and keep you safe. 5 Who in your eyes is my equal? or what comparison will you make with me? 6 As for those who take gold out of a bag, and put silver in the scales, they give payment to a gold-worker, to make it into a god; they go down on their faces and give it worship. 7 They put him on their backs, and take him up, and put him in his fixed place, from which he may not be moved; if a man gives a cry for help to him, he is unable to give an answer, or get him out of his trouble. 8 Keep this in mind and be shamed; let it come back to your memory, you sinners. 9 Let the things which are past come to your memory: for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me; 10 Making clear from the first what is to come, and from past times the things which have not so far come about; saying, My purpose is fixed, and I will do all my pleasure; 11 Sending for a bird of strong flight from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country; I have said it, and I will give effect to it; the thing designed by me will certainly be done. 12 Give ear to me, you feeble-hearted, who have no faith in my righteousness: 13 My righteousness is near, it is not far off; salvation will come quickly; and I will make Zion free, and give Israel my glory.
Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 46 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (13)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 21:9; Jeremiah 51:44; Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:52; Isaiah 41:6–7
- 2 Jeremiah 48:7; Judges 18:17–18; Judges 18:24; Jeremiah 43:12–13; 2 Samuel 5:21
- 3 Deuteronomy 1:31; Isaiah 51:7; Isaiah 51:1; Psalm 71:6; Isaiah 44:1–2
- 4 Psalm 71:18; Psalm 48:14; Psalm 92:14; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17
- 5 Isaiah 40:18; Isaiah 40:25; Psalm 89:6; Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:15
- 6 Acts 17:29; Jeremiah 10:14; Isaiah 40:19–20; Hosea 8:4–6; Isaiah 2:8
- 7 Isaiah 45:20; Jeremiah 10:5; Isaiah 46:1; 1 Samuel 5:3; Jonah 1:5
- 8 1 Corinthians 14:20; Luke 15:17; Haggai 1:7; Isaiah 47:7; Haggai 1:5
- 9 Isaiah 45:21–22; Isaiah 42:9; Isaiah 46:5; Psalm 111:4; Deuteronomy 33:26
- 10 Proverbs 19:21; Psalm 33:11; Ephesians 1:9–11; Isaiah 43:13; Proverbs 21:30
- 11 Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 14:24–27; Job 23:13; Ephesians 1:11; Isaiah 41:2
- 12 Jeremiah 2:5; Ephesians 2:13; Isaiah 46:3; Zechariah 7:11–12; Psalm 119:150
- 13 Isaiah 62:11; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 51:5; Isaiah 61:3; Isaiah 44:23
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And on this account, he (the Demiurge), being incapable of recognising any spiritual essences, imagined himself to be God alone, and declared through the prophets, "I am God, and besides me there is none else." They further teach that the spirits of wickedness derived their origin from grief.
Thou wilt carry us both when little, and even to grey hairs wilt Thou carry us; for our firmness, when it is Thou, then is it firmness; but when it is our own, then it is infirmity.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)