Bible Strands
Isaiah 42:17
But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet speaks for Yahweh, contrasting His promise to guide the blind with the fate of idolaters, immediately before addressing the deaf and blind in the following verse.
The words — נָסֹ֤גוּ (nāṣôḡû) means “they will be turned back,” and יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ (yēḇôšû) means “they will be put to shame.” The text states that those who trust in idols and speak to molten images as gods will experience this reversal and disgrace.
The thread — The shame of idol worship runs through Psalms 97:7, where all who worship images are put to shame, and Isaiah 44:11, where craftsmen and their followers are shamed. Isaiah 1:29 also records shame coming to those who delight in sacred oaks and gardens.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to choose between trusting Yahweh’s guidance and relying on crafted objects, plainly stating that the latter ends in reversal and public disgrace.
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
They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
Cross-references
- Psalms 97:7 All worshipers of images are put to shame—those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!
- Isaiah 1:29 Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.
- Isaiah 44:11 Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame.
- Isaiah 45:16 They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.
- Exodus 32:4 He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
- Exodus 32:8 How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
- Isaiah 44:17 From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”
- Jeremiah 2:26 As the thief is ashamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets
- 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.