Isaiah 45:20

KJV1611 – Modern English

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations: they have no knowledge who set up the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

הִקָּבְצ֥וּ וָבֹ֛אוּ הִֽתְנַגְּשׁ֥וּ יַחְדָּ֖ו פְּלִיטֵ֣י הַגּוֹיִ֑ם לֹ֣א יָדְע֗וּ הַנֹּֽשְׂאִים֙ אֶת־עֵ֣ץ פִּסְלָ֔ם וּמִתְפַּלְלִ֔ים אֶל־אֵ֖ל לֹ֥א יוֹשִֽׁיעַ

Transliteration

hiqqābṣû and-bōʾû hitnagĕšû yaḥdāw pĕlîṭê the-gôyim not yādĕʿû the-nōśĕʾîm [direct object marker]-ʿēṣ pislām and-mitpalĕlîm to-ʾēl not yôšîaʿ

Grammar Details

• *hiqqābṣû*: niphal imperative, masculine plural - assemble/gather yourselves
• *bōʾû*: qal imperative, masculine plural - come
• *hitnagĕšû*: hithpael imperative, masculine plural - draw near together
• *yaḥdāw*: adverb - together/all of them
• *pĕlîṭê*: masculine plural construct - escapees/survivors of
• *gôyim*: masculine plural noun with definite article - the nations/gentiles
• *yādĕʿû*: qal perfect, 3rd common plural - they know
• *nōśĕʾîm*: qal participle, masculine plural with definite article - the ones carrying
• *ʿēṣ*: masculine singular noun - wood/tree
• *pislām*: masculine singular noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - their carved image
• *mitpalĕlîm*: hithpael participle, masculine plural - praying/who pray
• *ʾēl*: masculine singular noun - god/deity
• *yôšîaʿ*: hiphil imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - he saves/delivers

Word Meanings

• *hiqqābṣû*: assemble/gather yourselves/come together
• *hitnagĕšû*: draw near together/approach/come together
• *yaḥdāw*: together/all of them/at once
• *pĕlîṭê*: escapees/survivors/fugitives
• *nōśĕʾîm*: the ones carrying/bearers/those who lift up
• *ʿēṣ*: wood/tree/timber
• *pislām*: their carved image/their idol/their sculpture
• *mitpalĕlîm*: praying/who pray/supplicating
• *yôšîaʿ*: he saves/delivers/rescues

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Let the be gathered & come together, let the drawe nye hyther, yt are escaped of the people: Haue they eny vnderstondinge, that set vp the stockes of their Idols, and praye vnto a god, that ca not helpe the?

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Assemble your selues, & come: drawe neere together, ye abiect of the Gentiles: they haue no knowledge, that set vp the wood of their idole, and pray vnto a god, that cannot saue them.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Gather you and come together, drawe nigh hither you that escaped of the people: they haue no vnderstanding that set vp the stockes of their idols, and pray vnto a god that can not helpe them.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  ¶ Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye [that are] escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god [that] cannot save.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations: they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can't save.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  Be gathered, and come in, Come nigh together, ye escaped of the nations, They have not known, Who are lifting up the wood of their graven image, And praying unto a god `that' saveth not.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  Come together, even come near, you nations who are still living: they have no knowledge who take up their image of wood, and make prayer to a god in whom is no salvation.

• World English Bible (2000)

  "Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can't save.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

Referenced Verses

• Isa 43:9 : 9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
• Isa 46:1 : 1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are upon the beasts and upon the cattle; your carriages are heavily loaded; they are a burden to the weary animal.
• Jer 10:5 : 5 They stand upright like a palm tree, but do not speak: they must be carried, because they cannot go. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
• Jer 10:8 : 8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the wooden idol is a doctrine of vanities.
• Jer 10:14 : 14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is humiliated by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
• Jer 25:15-29 : 15 For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me; Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 And they shall drink, and stagger, and go mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: 18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20 And all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, 21 Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon, 22 And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea, 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners, 24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the desert, 25 And all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, 26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 Therefore you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink, and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. 28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; You shall certainly drink. 29 For, behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be completely unpunished? You shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of hosts.
• Jer 50:28 : 28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.
• Jer 51:6-9 : 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; He will render to her a recompense. 7 Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunk; the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed; howl for her, take balm for her pain, if perhaps she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country, for her judgment reaches unto heaven and is lifted up even to the skies.
• Jer 51:17-18 : 17 Every man is senseless by his knowledge; every craftsman is put to shame by the graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 18 They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
• Hab 2:18-20 : 18 What profit is the carved image that its maker has carved it; the molded image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts in it, to make mute idols? 19 Woe to him who says to the wood, Awake; to the mute stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst. 20 But the LORD is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.
• Rom 1:21-23 : 21 Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
• Eph 2:12 : 12 That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
• Eph 2:16 : 16 And that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
• Rev 18:3-9 : 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the abundance of her luxuries. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Repay her even as she repaid you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled, fill to her double. 7 As much as she has glorified herself, and lived luxuriously, give her that much torment and sorrow: for she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore her plagues shall come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her, shall mourn and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing far off for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour your judgment has come. 11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no one buys their merchandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all kinds of citron wood, and all types of vessels of ivory, and all kinds of vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 13 And cinnamon, and incense, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 14 And the fruits that your soul longed for have departed from you, and all things which were luxurious and splendid have departed from you, and you shall find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, shall stand far off for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour such great riches came to nothing. And every captain, and all who travel by ship, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood far off, 18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like this great city!
• Isa 46:6-7 : 6 They pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver on the scales, and hire a goldsmith; and he makes it a god: they fall down, yes, they worship. 7 They carry him upon the shoulder, they bear him, and set him in his place, and he stands; from his place he shall not move: yes, one shall cry to him, yet he cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
• Isa 48:5-7 : 5 I have declared it to you from the beginning; before it came to pass I showed it to you, lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my carved image and my molded image have commanded them.' 6 You have heard; see all this. And will you not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them. 7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you heard them not; lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'
• Jer 2:27-28 : 27 Saying to a tree, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. 28 But where are your gods that you have made? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.
• 1 Kgs 18:26-29 : 26 And they took the bull which was given them, and prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. 27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps, and must be awakened. 28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any who regarded.
• Ps 115:8 : 8 Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.
• Isa 4:2 : 2 In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and lovely for those who have escaped of Israel.
• Isa 41:5-6 : 5 The islands saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. 6 They helped everyone his neighbor; and everyone said to his brother, Be of good courage.
• Isa 41:21 : 21 Produce your cause, says the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob.
• Isa 42:17-18 : 17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in carved images, that say to the molded images, 'You are our gods.' 18 Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
• Isa 44:17-20 : 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, even his carved image: he falls down to it, and worships it, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me, for you are my god. 18 They have not known nor understood: for he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considers in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yes, also I have baked bread on the coals of it; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? shall I fall down to the stump of a tree? 20 He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?