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BOOK 23 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Isaiah 46

Isaiah book home•Chapter 46 of 66•13 verses
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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Isaiah 46 Overview

Babylon’s gods Bel and Nebo must be carried by beasts, but the LORD reminds Israel that He has carried them from the womb and will carry them to old age; He alone declares the end from the beginning and brings His purpose to pass.

IsaiahBook
46Chapter
13Verses
Major ProphetsDivision

Before you read Isaiah 46

Coming from

The LORD addresses Cyrus as His anointed instrument, opens nations before him, and repeatedly declares that there is no God beside Him; the Creator’s sovereign purpose includes Israel’s salvation and a worldwide call to look unto Him and be saved.

In this chapter

Babylon’s gods Bel and Nebo must be carried by beasts, but the LORD reminds Israel that He has carried them from the womb and will carry them to old age; He alone declares the end from the beginning and brings His purpose to pass.

Leads into

Daughter Babylon is commanded to come down from her throne into humiliation; luxury, sorcery, self-confidence, and the boast 'I am, and none else beside me' are answered by sudden disaster no astrologer can prevent.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter contrasts portable idols with the living God. Babylon’s revered gods cannot save their own images from becoming burdens, while Israel’s God bears His people.

The interpretive center of Isaiah 46 is the chapter’s own movement: false gods burden their worshipers. Read its poetry, signs, historical references, and later biblical connections from that center rather than treating isolated phrases as detached slogans.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

False gods burden their worshipers

Bel and Nebo must be loaded onto animals and carried away.

The LORD carries rather than needing to be carried

His sustaining care spans Israel’s life from birth to old age.

God’s foreknowledge and purpose distinguish Him from idols

He declares what will happen and calls the agent who fulfills His counsel.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Isaiah 41:21-29

The earlier courtroom challenge also tests idols by their inability to declare or control events.

Isaiah 45:20-22

Idol-carriers are contrasted with the God who alone can save.

Acts 17:24-25

Paul likewise emphasizes that the true God is not served as though He needed anything from human hands.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not reduce 'declaring the end from the beginning' to fortune-telling.

The point is God’s unique sovereign purpose over history.

Do not read God’s carrying language as guaranteeing ease.

The audience still faces exile; the promise is sustaining covenant faithfulness through it.

Read Isaiah 46 watching for…

idols being carried

God carrying Israel

the question of who can compare with the LORD

declaring the end from the beginning

the called bird of prey from the east

TWBC REVIEW STANDARD

Plain language. Scripture first. Fact distinguished from inference. No filler. No fake certainty. Designed to help you read the Bible itself.

Chapter outline2 sections
1-4Babylon’s gods must be carried, but the LORD has carried Israel from the womb5-13No idol compares with God, who declares the end from the beginning and brings salvation
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.

2

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

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.

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.

8

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

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:

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.

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.