Bible Strands
Isaiah 41:29
See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses those who trust in false gods, declaring their futility immediately after noting that no reliable counselor can be found among them.
The words — The text identifies their works as אֶ֖פֶס ('E.fes) = nothing and their molten images as ר֥וּחַ (Ru.ach) = wind and emptiness.
The thread — The declaration of worthless idols and empty words recurs in Isaiah 41:24, while Jeremiah 5:13 applies the wind metaphor to false prophets and Psalms 115:4 describes the physical construction of silver and gold idols.
Why it lands — The passage demands a clear-eyed assessment of idolatry, rejecting crafted objects as futile and calling for reliance on a substantive source of counsel rather than empty illusions.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 5:13 The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”
- Isaiah 41:24 Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
- Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Psalms 135:15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 44:9 All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
- Jeremiah 10:2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them.
- Habakkuk 2:18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.