Yesaya 46:5-9

46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?

Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

46:6 Those who empty out gold from a purse

and weigh out silver on the scale ¹ 

hire a metalsmith, who makes it into a god.

They then bow down and worship it.

46:7 They put it on their shoulder and carry it;

they put it in its place and it just stands there;

it does not ²  move from its place.

Even when someone cries out to it, it does not reply;

it does not deliver him from his distress.

46:8 Remember this, so you can be brave! ³ 

Think about it, you rebels! ⁴ 

46:9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! ⁵ 

Truly I am God, I have no peer; ⁶ 

I am God, and there is none like me,

[46:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the reed,” probably referring to the beam of a scales. See BDB 889 s.v. קָנֶה 4.c.

[46:7]  ² tn Or perhaps, “cannot,” here and in the following two lines. The imperfect forms can indicate capability.

[46:8]  ³ tn The meaning of the verb אָשַׁשׁ (’ashash, which appears here in the Hitpolel stem) is uncertain. BDB 84 s.v. אשׁשׁ relates it to a root meaning “found, establish” in Arabic; HALOT 100 s.v. II אשׁשׁ gives the meaning “pluck up courage.” The imperative with vav (ו) may indicate purpose following the preceding imperative.

[46:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “return [it], rebels, to heart”; NRSV “recall it to mind, you transgressors.”

[46:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “remember the former things, from antiquity”; KJV, ASV “the former things of old.”

[46:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “and there is no other” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).