Isaiah 41 29

Isaiah 41:29 kjv

Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

Isaiah 41:29 nkjv

Indeed they are all worthless; Their works are nothing; Their molded images are wind and confusion.

Isaiah 41:29 niv

See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.

Isaiah 41:29 esv

Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.

Isaiah 41:29 nlt

See, they are all foolish, worthless things.
All your idols are as empty as the wind.

Isaiah 41 verses

Isaiah 41 29 Meaning

Isaiah 41:29 culminates a powerful challenge to false gods and those who worship them. It declares with absolute certainty that these idols, and everything associated with them, are utterly devoid of substance, meaning, power, or beneficial effect. They are depicted as mere emptiness, transient as wind, and the products of futility.

Isaiah 41 29 Context

Isaiah chapter 41 is structured as a divine "courtroom drama" where God, the Lord of Israel, summons the nations and their gods for judgment. He proclaims His unique ability to declare the future, a power none of their idols possess. He strengthens His chosen "servant" (likely a reference to Cyrus, but also hinting at a spiritual servant), who will act as His agent in bringing judgment and deliverance. The chapter repeatedly contrasts the utter impotence of the false gods with the absolute sovereignty, power, and faithfulness of the God of Israel. Verse 29 serves as a definitive verdict, concluding God's challenge to the idols and explicitly stating their ultimate worthlessness, setting the stage for further declarations of His glory.

Isaiah 41 29 Word analysis

• Behold (הֵן – hen): An emphatic interjection. It commands immediate attention, signaling a crucial pronouncement or summary judgment that follows.
• all of them (כֻּלָּם – kullam): Refers comprehensively to the idols, the idol makers, and the entire system of false worship discussed throughout the preceding verses in Isaiah 41. It signifies total inclusion, leaving no room for exception.
• are vanity (תֹּהוּ – tohu): A significant Hebrew word meaning "formlessness, chaos, waste, futility, emptiness." It echoes Gen 1:2 where the earth was "formless and empty" before creation, implying that idols are effectively pre-creation—without substance or purpose in the face of the true God.
• their works (מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם – ma'asehem): Encompasses everything they do: their rituals, their crafts, their prophecies, their attempts to secure blessings or knowledge from their idols. These human endeavors are equally without substance or benefit.
• are nothing (אֶפֶס – efes): Signifies non-existence, cessation, absolute nullity, or worthlessness. It’s a complete dismissal of their value or power.
• their molded images (נִסְכֵּיהֶם – niskehem): Specifically denotes cast or molten images, referring to the physical idols themselves that are manufactured by human hands, often from metal.
• are wind (רוּחַ – ruach): Ruach can mean "spirit, breath, wind." Here, it vividly portrays the insubstantiality, fleetingness, and powerlessness of the idols. They are like a gust of wind, possessing no enduring presence or impact.
• and emptiness (בֹּהוּ – bohu): Paired with tohu in Gen 1:2 (tohu wa-bohu - formless and empty), bohu also means "emptiness, void, desolate." Its use here reinforces the absolute lack of substance and ultimate nullity of the idols, signifying ultimate spiritual barrenness.

Words-group analysis

• "Behold, all of them are vanity": This opening phrase functions as a shocking revelation. It draws a stark, direct contrast between the grand claims of the idolaters and the inherent nothingness of their objects of worship.
• "their works are nothing": This expands the judgment beyond the idols themselves to the practices and rituals performed in their name. Every action taken for or in service of these false gods is deemed equally worthless and futile.
• "their molded images are wind and emptiness": This final declaration powerfully reinforces the opening statement, using a dual-term echo from creation (tohu wa-bohu) and the imagery of "wind" to hammer home the utter lack of substantiality, vitality, or power in these human constructs. It emphasizes their transient, ephemeral, and ultimately non-existent spiritual reality.

Isaiah 41 29 Bonus section

The terms tohu and bohu, famously paired in Gen 1:2, appear together only in a few other places (e.g., Jer 4:23, Is 34:11). Their strategic deployment here in Isaiah 41:29 for idols powerfully links the "nothingness" of idolatry back to the primordial void from which God alone created. This theological echo signifies that idols, unlike the Creator God, have no power to create, sustain, or even exist in any meaningful sense. They are products of human imagination returned to a state of cosmic non-significance. This serves as a fundamental challenge to any theology that attributes intrinsic power to crafted objects or non-divine entities.

Isaiah 41 29 Commentary

Isaiah 41:29 serves as the unequivocal climax of God’s indictment against idolatry. It strips away all pretense of power, prophecy, or purpose from the false gods of the nations. Using ancient terms for primeval chaos (tohu wa-bohu), it relegates idols to a state of absolute non-being, portraying them as utterly without form, meaning, or spiritual life, echoing the state of the earth before God’s creative word gave it order and life. The repetitive use of synonyms for "nothingness"—vanity, nothing, wind, emptiness—is not merely poetic but serves to underscore God's complete and final dismissal of these competing deities. It emphasizes that relying on such idols, or the works performed for them, yields nothing of substance, protection, or true revelation. Instead, such worship is a chasing after mere air, a pursuit of desolation, directly contrasting the living, sovereign God who both declares and performs the future, and who alone provides salvation.