Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses exiles from the nations, commanding them to assemble and approach Him following His declaration that He speaks truth directly and not in secret.
The words — The imperatives הִקָּבְצוּ (hiqqabetsû) and הִתְנַגְשׁוּ (hitnagshû) order the fugitives to gather and draw near, while לֹא יָדְעוּ (lōʾ yādaʿû) flatly states that idolaters lack knowledge.
The thread — The summons for nations to assemble mirrors Isaiah 43:9, and the dismissal of wooden idols aligns with the descriptions in Isaiah 44:17 and Jeremiah 10:5.
Why it lands — The text contrasts God's truthful speech with the silence and powerlessness of carved idols, requiring the reader to recognize that only the LORD can save.
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
Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 43:9 All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witnesses to vindicate them, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
- 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 10:5 Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”
- Isaiah 4:2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
- Isaiah 46:1 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
- Psalms 115:8 Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
- 1 Kings 18:26 And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made.
- Isaiah 41:5 The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward.
- Isaiah 41:21 “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.
- 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.