Isaiah 46:3

Dead Idols and the Living God

1 Bel ^abows down, Nebo stoops;
Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle.
Your carriages were heavily loaded,
^bA burden to the weary beast.

2 They stoop, they bow down together;
They could not deliver the burden,
^aBut have themselves gone into captivity.

3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
^aWho have been upheld by Me from¹ birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:

4 Even to your old age, ^aI am He,
And even to gray hairs ^bI will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

5 “To^a whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal
And compare Me, that we should be alike?

6 ^aThey lavish gold out of the bag,
And weigh silver on the scales;
They hire a ^bgoldsmith, and he makes it a god;
They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Isaiah 46:3

Which are borne by me from the belly "Ye that have been borne by me from the birth" - The prophet very ingeniously, and with great force, contrasts the power of God, and his tender goodness effectually exerted towards his people, with the inability of the false gods of the heathen. He like an indulgent father had carried his people in his arms, "as a man carrieth his son," Deuteronomy 1:31. He had protected them, and delivered them from their distresses: whereas the idols of the heathen are forced to be carried about themselves and removed from place to place, with great labor and fatigue, by their worshippers; nor can they answer, or deliver their votaries, when they cry unto them.

Moses, expostulating with God on the weight of the charge laid upon him as leader of his people, expresses that charge under the same image of a parent' s carrying his children, in very strong terms: "Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them? that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers;" Numbers 11:12.

**Other Adam Clarke entries containing Isaiah 46:3:**

Isaiah 63:8-9
Daniel 5:31
Acts 13:18

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Isaiah 46:4 >>

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