Isaiah 46

Gods Who Must Be Carried

Babylon’s gods are loaded onto pack animals and hauled away, while Israel’s God has carried His people from birth and will carry them to old age.

Addressed to the exiles, shortly before Babylon’s fall in 539 BC Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Bel and Nebo were the two chief gods of Babylon. Bel means “lord” (it is the Babylonian form of Baal) and was the title of Marduk, the city’s patron and king of the gods.

Bel and Nebo were the two chief gods of Babylon. Bel means “lord” (it is the Babylonian form of Baal) and was the title of Marduk, the city’s patron and king of the gods. Nebo (Akkadian Nabû) was Marduk’s son, the god of writing and wisdom, whose temple stood in the neighboring city of Borsippa. The names of Babylon’s kings honored him: Nebuchadnezzar is Nabû-kudurri-uṣur, “Nabû, protect my heir,” and the last king, Nabonidus, is Nabû-naʾid, “Nabû is exalted.”

At the great New Year festival, the akītu, Nabû’s statue was carried in procession from Borsippa to Babylon to visit his father, and the statues of the gods were paraded through the streets and along the processional way. The exiles would have seen these processions, and some of them must have been impressed.

In the last years before Cyrus arrived, something odd happened. The Nabonidus Chronicle records that for several years the king stayed away in Arabia and the New Year festival was not celebrated: “Nabû did not come to Babylon; Bel did not come out.” Then, as the Persians approached in 539, Nabonidus had the statues of the gods of other Babylonian cities brought into Babylon for safekeeping. Gods were being hauled around the country on carts like refugees’ luggage. That is the scene Isaiah 46 describes.

The thread through the chapter

Isaiah 46 turns on a single contrast: the gods you carry, and the God who carries you.

Isaiah 46 turns on a single contrast: the gods you carry, and the God who carries you.

The chapter opens with Bel and Nebo bent low, not in worship but under their own weight, loaded onto oxen and donkeys. The animals are exhausted. The gods can’t save the load, because they are the load, and they are headed into captivity themselves (verses 1–2).

Then the Lord speaks to Israel with the same verbs: carry, bear, load. But now the Lord is the one doing the carrying. “Which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: and even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you” (verses 3–4). Babylon’s gods must be carried. Israel’s God carries His people, from their birth to their gray hair.

The rest of the chapter drives the point home. People spend a fortune on gold to have a god made, carry it on their shoulders, set it down where it stays put, and cry to it, and it cannot answer (verses 6–7). The Lord, by contrast, declares “the end from the beginning” (verse 10) and brings His plans to pass, even to the point of calling a bird of prey from the east (verse 11). His salvation is not far off (verse 13).

The question underneath is one everyone has to answer: Is my religion something I have to carry, or Someone who carries me?

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–2

Bel and Nebo on the baggage carts

In plain words

Bel bows down; Nebo stoops low. Their idols are loaded on animals, on beasts of burden. The images you used to carry in procession are now a heavy load, a burden for weary animals. The gods stoop and bow down together. They can’t rescue their load; they themselves go off into captivity.

1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.

History & Setting #

Gods as cargo

The verbs are deliberately ironic. “Boweth down” (kāraʿ) and “stoopeth” (qōrēs) are words for worship.

The verbs are deliberately ironic. “Boweth down” (kāraʿ) and “stoopeth” (qōrēs) are words for worship. But Bel and Nebo aren’t bowing in worship. They’re bent over, tipped sideways on the backs of pack animals, like furniture in a moving van.

Some commentators read the verses as a prediction of what would happen when Babylon fell, with the gods carried off by conquerors, as Assyrian reliefs show soldiers carrying away the statues of defeated nations’ gods. In fact, Cyrus did not carry off Babylon’s gods. He honored Marduk and, according to the Cyrus Cylinder, returned the statues Nabonidus had gathered into Babylon to their home cities. So the scene may better fit the frantic movements of Nabonidus’s last months, when gods from all over Babylonia were being trucked into the capital for protection. Either way, the image is devastating. The gods who were supposed to protect their people were being protected, and carried, by them.

Sources: James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969. The Cyrus Cylinder, British Museum, London, museum no. 90920. Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012. Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.

Word & Language #

“Your carriages”

“Carriages” is King James English for “things carried,” not wheeled vehicles.

“Carriages” is King James English for “things carried,” not wheeled vehicles. The Hebrew nĕśuʾōtêkem means “the things you carried,” probably the statues that had been lifted high in festival processions. Now those same statues are dead weight on tired animals.

The word maśśāʾ, “burden” (from the same verb nāśāʾ, “to lift, carry”), is the word used in the titles of Isaiah’s oracles against the nations: “The burden of Babylon” (Isa. 13:1). There, a “burden” was a heavy prophetic message. Here the gods of Babylon have literally become a burden.

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.

2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.

Verses 3–7

“Even to hoar hairs will I carry you”

In plain words

“Listen to Me, house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been carried by Me since before you were born, who have been borne along since the womb. Even when you are old, I am the same, and when your hair is gray I will carry you. I made you, and I will bear you. I will carry you and I will rescue you. To whom will you compare Me or make Me equal? Whom will you set beside Me as My likeness? People pour gold out of their purses and weigh silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and then they bow down and worship it. They lift it to their shoulders and carry it. They set it in its place, and there it stands; it can’t move from its spot. When someone cries out to it, it doesn’t answer. It can’t save anyone from trouble.”

3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Witness of Christ #

The God who carries

Verses 3–4 use four verbs of carrying in quick succession: ʿāmas (to load), nāśāʾ (to lift), and sābal (to bear a heavy load), the last twice.

Verses 3–4 use four verbs of carrying in quick succession: ʿāmas (to load), nāśāʾ (to lift), and sābal (to bear a heavy load), the last twice. They are the same verbs used for Bel and Nebo, but now the direction is reversed. The Lord says, in effect: they are carried; I carry.

The time frame is a whole lifetime, from the womb to gray hair. It’s the language of a parent who carries a newborn, and the language of a child who carries an aging parent, except that here the parent carries both ends of life.

The verb sābal will return in the fourth Servant Song: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4), and “he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11). In both verses the verb is sābal. The God who promises to carry Israel to old age is the Servant who carries their sins. Alma taught that Christ would “take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people” (Alma 7:12). He carries us because He has carried what we carry.

Sources: Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.

5 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.

7 They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

Liken It #

A god who stays where you put him

The idol in verse 7 does exactly what its owners want. It goes where they carry it, stays where they set it, and never moves on its own.

The idol in verse 7 does exactly what its owners want. It goes where they carry it, stays where they set it, and never moves on its own. That is precisely its problem. When they cry out to it, “yet can he not answer.”

A god who stays where we put him is comfortable. He doesn’t surprise us, correct us, or ask anything of us. He also can’t save us. The living God is not so manageable. He calls Abraham out of Ur, Moses to Pharaoh, Isaiah to a rebellious people, and Joseph Smith into a grove. He answers, and His answers move us.

Nephi warned of people in the last days who would say, “we have enough” and want no more revelation (2 Ne. 28:27–29). That is a way of setting God in His place and expecting Him to stay there.

Verses 8–13

The end from the beginning

In plain words

“Remember this and stand firm. Take it to heart, you rebels. Remember what happened long ago. For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like Me. I announce the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My plan will stand, and I will do everything I please.’ I call a bird of prey from the east, a man from a distant land to carry out My plan. Yes, I have spoken, and I will bring it about. I have planned it, and I will do it. Listen to Me, you stubborn people, who are far from righteousness: I am bringing My righteousness near. It isn’t far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will put salvation in Zion and My splendor in Israel.”

8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.

Word & Language #

“Shew yourselves men”

The Hebrew verb here, hitʾōšāšû, occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Words that occur only once are called hapax legomena (Greek for “said once”), and they are notoriously hard to translate.

The Hebrew verb here, hitʾōšāšû, occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Words that occur only once are called hapax legomena (Greek for “said once”), and they are notoriously hard to translate. The KJV guessed that it came from ʾîš, “man,” and rendered it “shew yourselves men,” that is, act like adults, be sensible. Others connect it with a root meaning “foundation” and translate “stand firm.” The Greek Septuagint has “groan,” and the Latin Vulgate “be confounded.”

All the proposals point in a similar direction: pull yourselves together, and think. The exiles who were tempted by Babylon’s splendid gods needed to stop and remember what they already knew.

Sources: Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000. Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.

9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Restoration Insight #

The end from the beginning

This is the heart of the Lord’s case against the idols throughout chapters 41–48: He knows and announces the future, and they don’t.

Latter-day scripture uses the same language. The Lord told Abraham, “My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning” (Abr. 2:8). Joseph Smith taught that for God, “all things… are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord” (D&C 130:7). Nephi said that the Lord “knoweth all things from the beginning” and so prepared a way to accomplish His work (1 Ne. 9:6).

Does God’s foreknowledge mean our choices are already fixed? Latter-day Saint teaching, like much Christian theology, holds that God’s knowing our choices does not cause them. Agency is real (2 Ne. 2:26–27), and God’s foreknowledge is part of what makes His promises trustworthy. The verse’s last line gives the reason Isaiah cares: “My counsel shall stand.” The God who sees the end can be trusted with the middle.

11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

History & Setting #

A bird of prey from the east

The “ravenous bird” (ʿayiṭ) is a bird of prey, the kind that swoops on carrion (Gen. 15:11).

The “ravenous bird” (ʿayiṭ) is a bird of prey, the kind that swoops on carrion (Gen. 15:11). In the next line it is explained: “the man that executeth my counsel from a far country.” That is Cyrus again.

A historical detail makes the image apt. The Greek writer Xenophon reports that Cyrus’s royal standard was a golden eagle with outstretched wings mounted on a spear (Cyropaedia 7.1.4). Xenophon wrote more than a century later, and his Cyropaedia is a mix of history and idealized fiction, so the detail can’t be pressed. But the image of Persia as a swooping bird would have been natural to the prophet’s audience.

12 Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:

13 I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

Liken It #

Salvation that doesn’t delay

Verse 12 addresses the “stouthearted,” literally “mighty of heart” (ʾabbîrê lēb), people who are stubborn, who have hardened themselves, and who are “far from righteousness.”

Verse 12 addresses the “stouthearted,” literally “mighty of heart” (ʾabbîrê lēb), people who are stubborn, who have hardened themselves, and who are “far from righteousness.” The Lord’s answer is not to wait for them to come near. He brings His righteousness near to them.

“Righteousness” (ṣĕdāqâ) and “salvation” (tĕšûʿâ) are paired throughout these chapters. God’s righteousness is not just His moral perfection; it is His faithfulness to His promises, shown in saving His people. Paul will develop the same idea: “the righteousness of God” revealed in the gospel is His saving power (Rom. 1:16–17).

For those who feel far away, the promise is that distance is His problem to solve, not theirs. “It shall not be far off.”

Seeing Christ in Isaiah 46

Isaiah 46 contrasts gods who must be carried with the God who carries His people “from the womb” to “hoar hairs.” The verb sābal, “to bear a heavy load,” links this chapter to the Suffering Servant, who “carried our sorrows” and “shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:4, Isa. 53:11). Jesus Christ is the God who carries. He invites the weary, “Come unto me… For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28–30), and He carried the heaviest burden of all in Gethsemane and on the cross.

The God who declares “the end from the beginning” is also the Lord of history in whom the end and the beginning meet: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 21:6).

Liken it to yourself

Is my religion something I have to carry, or Someone who carries me? What would change if it were more the second?
What “gods” in my life stay where I put them and never surprise me?
The Lord promises to carry me “even to hoar hairs.” What season of life am I in, and what do I need Him to carry now?
Do I sometimes feel that I have to get closer to God before He will help me? What does verse 13 say about that?
How does trusting that God knows “the end from the beginning” change the way I live through the middle?

Worth exploring next

Carrying and being carried. Compare Deut. 1:31, Deut. 32:10–12, Isa. 40:11, Isa. 46:3–4, Isa. 63:9, and Isa. 53:4.
The gods of Babylon. Read Jer. 50:2, Jer. 51:44, and Dan. 5.
God’s foreknowledge. Read Abr. 2:8, D&C 38:2, D&C 130:7, and 2 Ne. 2:26–27.
The idol satires. Read Isa. 40:18–20, Isa. 41:6–7, Isa. 44:9–20, and Isa. 46:5–7 together.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

Jer. 50:2 — “Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces.”
Deut. 1:31 — The Lord bore Israel in the wilderness “as a man doth bear his son.”

Sources & further reading

Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40–66: A Commentary, Old Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969.
Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.
Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah, Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
The Cyrus Cylinder, British Museum, London, museum no. 90920.
“Babylon or Babel”, Bible Dictionary.
“Idol”, Bible Dictionary.
Chapter 16: The God of Israel and the Nations (Isaiah 36–47), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

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