Isaiah 2:8

King James Version with Strong's Numbers

Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א אַרְצ֖וֹ אֱלִילִ֑ים לְמַעֲשֵׂ֤ה יָדָיו֙ יִֽשְׁתַּחֲו֔וּ לַאֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשׂ֖וּ אֶצְבְּעֹתָֽיו׃

Transliteration

And-timmālēʾ ʾarṣô ʾĕlîlîm; to-maʿăśê yādāyw yištaḥăwû, to-that which ʿāśû ʾeṣbəʿōtāyw.

Grammar Details

• *wa-timmālēʾ*: conjunction + verb, niphal imperfect consecutive, 3rd feminine singular - and is filled
• *ʾarṣô*: noun, feminine singular construct + 3rd masculine singular suffix - his land
• *ʾĕlîlîm*: noun, masculine plural - idols/worthless things
• *lə-maʿăśê*: preposition + noun, masculine singular construct - to the work of
• *yādāyw*: noun, feminine dual construct + 3rd masculine singular suffix - his hands
• *yištaḥăwû*: verb, hishtaphel imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - they bow down/worship
• *la-ʾăšer*: preposition + relative pronoun - to that which
• *ʿāśû*: verb, qal perfect, 3rd common plural - made/created
• *ʾeṣbəʿōtāyw*: noun, feminine plural construct + 3rd masculine singular suffix - his fingers

Word Meanings

• *ʾĕlîlîm*: idols/worthless things/nothings/vanities
• *maʿăśê yādāyw*: work of his hands/handiwork/human creation
• *yištaḥăwû*: they bow down/prostrate themselves/worship
• *ʾeṣbəʿōtāyw*: his fingers/what he has crafted

Referenced Verses

• Ps 115:4-8 : 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
• Isa 37:19 : 19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
• Jer 2:28 : 28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
• Jer 11:13 : 13 For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
• Ezek 16:23-25 : 23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness,(woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;) 24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. 25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.
• Hos 8:6 : 6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
• Hos 12:11 : 11 Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields.
• Hos 13:2 : 2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.
• Hos 14:3 : 3 Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
• Acts 17:16 : 16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
• Rev 9:20 : 20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
• Isa 44:15-20 : 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
• Isa 57:5 : 5 Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
• Isa 10:10-11 : 10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
• Isa 17:8 : 8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
• Deut 4:28 : 28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
• 2 Chr 27:2 : 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did: howbeit he entered not into the temple of the LORD. And the people did yet corruptly.
• 2 Chr 28:2-4 : 2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. 3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. 4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
• 2 Chr 28:23-25 : 23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. 24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
• 2 Chr 33:3-7 : 3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: