Yesaya 44:9-10
Konteks44:9 All who form idols are nothing;
the things in which they delight are worthless.
Their witnesses cannot see;
they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.
44:10 Who forms a god and casts an idol
that will prove worthless? 1
Yesaya 46:1-2
KonteksNebo 3 bends low.
Their images weigh down animals and beasts. 4
Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. 5
46:2 Together they bend low and kneel down;
they are unable to rescue the images; 6
[44:10] 1 tn The rhetorical question is sarcastic. The sense is, “Who is foolish enough…?”
[46:1] 2 sn Bel was the name of a Babylonian god. The name was originally associated with Enlil, but later was applied to Marduk. See HALOT 132 s.v. בֵּל.
[46:1] 3 sn Nebo is a variation of the name of the Babylonian god Nabu.
[46:1] 4 tn Heb “their images belong to animals and beasts”; NIV “their idols are borne by beasts of burden”; NLT “are being hauled away.”
[46:1] 5 tn Heb “your loads are carried [as] a burden by a weary [animal].”
[46:2] 6 tn Heb “[the] burden,” i.e., their images, the heavy burden carried by the animals.
[46:2] 7 tn נַפְשָׁם (nafsham, “their souls/lives”) is equivalent here to a third masculine plural suffix, but the third feminine singular verb הָלָכָה (halakhah, “they go”) agrees with the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, life”).
[46:2] 8 sn The downfall of Babylon is depicted here. The idols are carried off by the victorious enemy; the gods are likened to defeated captives who cower before the enemy and are taken into exile.
