Bible Strands
Isaiah 45:16
They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The declaration follows God’s statement of His hiddenness and precedes the promise of Israel’s deliverance, contrasting the fate of idol makers with the nation’s coming salvation.
The words — בּ֥וֹשׁוּ (boshu) means “they will be ashamed,” and נִכְלְמ֖וּ (nikhlemu) means “they will be put to shame,” both describing the inevitable disgrace of those who craft idols.
The thread — This theme of idol makers facing public disgrace recurs in Isaiah 42:17, Isaiah 44:9, and Isaiah 44:11.
Why it lands — The text demands a clear distinction between the futile shame of idol crafters and the assured, unashamed salvation promised to Israel, requiring the reader to abandon trust in manufactured gods.
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 ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Psalms 97:7 All worshipers of images are put to shame—those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!
- Isaiah 41:19 I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,
- Isaiah 45:20 Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.
- 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
- Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.