Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. New Living Translation Bel and Nebo, the gods of Babylon, bow as they are lowered to the ground. They are being hauled away on ox carts. The poor beasts stagger under the weight. English Standard Version Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. Berean Standard Bible Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal. King James Bible 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. New King James Version Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded, A burden to the weary beast. New American Standard Bible Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their idols have become loads for the animals and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary animal. NASB 1995 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast. NASB 1977 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast. Legacy Standard Bible Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their images are on the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast. Amplified Bible Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; Their idols are on the beasts [of burden] and on the cattle. Your burdens [of idols] are loaded [on them], Burdens on the weary animals. Christian Standard Bible Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Idols depicting them are consigned to beasts and cattle. The images you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary animal. Holman Christian Standard Bible Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols are consigned to beasts and cattle. The images you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary animal. American Standard Version Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. Aramaic Bible in Plain English Beyl has fallen and Nabu has been overthrown, and their idols were carved images. The burdens are packed up on a beast and on a hungry domestic beast of burden Brenton Septuagint Translation Bel has fallen, Nabo is broken to pieces, their graven images are gone to the wild beasts and the cattle: ye take them packed up as a burden to the weary, exhausted, hungry, and at the same time helpless man; Contemporary English Version The gods Bel and Nebo are down on their knees, as wooden images of them are carried away on weary animals. Douay-Rheims Bible BEL is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness. English Revised Version Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. GOD'S WORD® Translation The god Bel bows down; the god Nebo stoops low. Their statues are seated on animals and cattle. The gods that you carry are burdens, a load for weary people. Good News Translation "This is the end for Babylon's gods! Bel and Nebo once were worshiped, but now they are loaded on donkeys, a burden for the backs of tired animals. International Standard Version "Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low. Their idols are on beasts, on livestock. Your loads are more burdensome than their reports. JPS Tanakh 1917 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; Their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle; The things that ye carried about are made a load, A burden to the weary beast. Literal Standard Version Bel has bowed down, Nebo is stooping, | Their idols have been for the beast and for livestock, | Your burdens are loaded, a burden to the weary. Majority Standard Bible Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal. New American Bible Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols set upon beasts and cattle; They must be borne upon shoulders, a load for weary animals. NET Bible Bel kneels down, Nebo bends low. Their images weigh down animals and beasts. Your heavy images are burdensome to tired animals. New Revised Standard Version Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are on beasts and cattle; these things you carry are loaded as burdens on weary animals. New Heart English Bible Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and on the livestock: the things that you carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary. Webster's Bible Translation Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your loads were heavy; they were a burden to the weary beast. World English Bible Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary. Young's Literal Translation Bowed down hath Bel, stooping is Nebo, Their idols have been for the beast and for cattle, Your burdens are loaded, a burden to the weary. Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Babylon's Idols1Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal. 2The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.… Cross References Matthew 23:4 They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Numbers 32:38 as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. And they renamed the cities they rebuilt. 1 Samuel 5:3 When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place. Isaiah 2:18 and the idols will vanish completely. Isaiah 21:9 Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs." And one answered, saying: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground!" Isaiah 30:6 This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them. Isaiah 45:20 Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save. Treasury of Scripture Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols were on the beasts, and on the cattle: your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast. Bel. Isaiah 21:9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. Isaiah 41:6,7 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage… Exodus 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. a burden Isaiah 2:20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; Jeremiah 10:5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Jump to Previous Animal Animals Beast Beasts Bel Bent Bowed Boweth Bows Burden Burdens Carriages Carried Carry Cattle Consigned Falling Heavy Idols Images Livestock Load Loads Nebo Stoops Tired Weary WeightJump to Next Animal Animals Beast Beasts Bel Bent Bowed Boweth Bows Burden Burdens Carriages Carried Carry Cattle Consigned Falling Heavy Idols Images Livestock Load Loads Nebo Stoops Tired Weary WeightIsaiah 46 1. The idols of Babylon could not save themselves3. God saves his people to the end 5. Idols are not comparable to God for power 12. Or present salvation. XLVI. (1) Bel boweth down, Nebo Stoopeth.--Bel or Belus ("Lord "), is perhaps identical with Marduk or Merodach, but see Note on Jeremiah 1:2. Nabu (" the Revealer") was a kind of Assyrian Hermes. Isaiah sees the idols carried off as spoil, at the command of Cyrus, a heavy burden for the beasts that drag them. An inscription recently deciphered by Sir H. Rawlinson (Journal of Asiatic Society, Jan. 1880, quoted by Cheyne) presents the conduct of the conqueror under a somewhat different aspect. In that inscription he describes himself as a worshipper of Bel and Nebo, and prays to them for length of days. The king would seem from this to have been as wide in his syncretic liberalism as Alexander the Great was afterwards. How are we to reconcile the two? May we say that the prophet idealises the policy and character of the king, or that the monotheistic element which appears in his treatment of the Jews (2Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-2) was, after all, dominant in his action, in spite of episodes like that indicated in the inscription. It is possible that the recognition of the Babylonian deities may have followed on the submission of the people, and been preceded by some rougher treatment. Anyhow the contrast makes it probable that the prophecy was not written after the inscription. Your carriages.--Here, as elsewhere (1Samuel 17:22; Acts 21:15) in the sense of things carried; i.e., in this case, the images of the gods, which used to be carried in solemn procession, but are now represented as packed into a load for transport. So Herod. (1:183) states that Xerxes carried off from Babylon the golden image of Zeus (sc. Bel), the grandson thus fulfilling the prediction which his grandfather apparently had left unfulfilled. . . . Verses 1, 2. - THE FALL OF THE GODS OF BABYLON. Among the direct consequences of the victories of Cyrus will be the downfall, in a certain sense, of the Babylonian idolatry. The prophet expresses the downfall by material imagery, graphically describing the fate of the idols themselves. But we must regard him as exulting mainly in the thought of the blow that would be dealt to idolatry in general, and to the Babylonian fond of it in particular, by the substitution of the non-idolatrous and almost monotheistic Persians for the polytheistic and grossly idolatrous Babylonians, in the sovereignty of the Asiatic world. The Babylonian religion no doubt maintained itself at Babylon until and beyond the time of Alexander; but it had lost all its prestige. From the state religion of the chief empire of Western Asia, it had sunk to the position of a provincial cult. Verse 1. - Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. In the later Babylonian period, to which Isaiah's prophetic vision transports him, Bel and Nebo (if we understand by Bel, Bel-Merodach) were decidedly the two principal gods. Of the seven kings of the last dynasty, three had names in which Nebo, and two names in which Bel or Merodach, wad an element. Bel-Merodach and Nebo are the chief gods worshipped by Nebuchadnezzar and Neriglissar. Bel, Nebo, and Merodach are the only three Babylonian gods that receive acknowledgment from Cyrus in the so-called 'Cyrus Cylinder.' Bel is, in the Babylonian, "Bil," or "Belu," and means simply "lord." There was an ancient god of the name, one of the First Triad (Anu, Bel, and Hen or Hod), who came by degrees to be identified with Merodach, the tutelary deity of Babylon. Bel-Merodach was the Βῆλος (Belus) of the Greeks and Romans, who was worshipped in the great temple of Babylon, now represented by the ruin called "Babil." His name forms an element in those of Bel-lush, Bel-kudur-azur, Bel-ipni. Bel-zakir-isknn, and Belshazzar, all of them kings or viceroys of either Babylonia or Assyria. Nebu was the Babylonian god of learning, and has therefore been compared to Mercury. He was the special deity of Borsippa. The name is thought to be etymologically connected with the Hebrew nabi, prophet. The "bowing" and "stooping" of Bel and Nebo has primary reference to the overthrow of their images by the conqueror; but includes also the idea of the fall of the gods themselves in the opinions of men. Their idols were upon the beasts. The Chaldean images generally - not only those of Bel-Merodach and Nebo, but also of Ann, and Hen, and Beltis, and Ishtar, and Nergal, and Sin, and Shamas, and Gula, and others - would be torn from their shrines, and placed upon the backs of beasts of burden, to be carried off by the conquerors. No doubt this was the case with a large number of the images, which were among the most precious of the spoils seized by the soldiers. But it appears that numerous exceptions were made. Neither Cyrus nor Cambyses touched the famous golden image of Bel-Merodach at Babylon, which was first carried off from the great temple by Xerxes (Herod., 1:183). Cyrus, moreover, restored various idols, which Nabonidus had taken to Babylon from provincial towns, to the temples to which they of right belonged (Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, January, 1880, art. it.). But though their fate was in tiffs way often delayed, ultimately it is probable every valuable idol was carried off and committed to the melting-pot. Your carriages were heavy loaden; rather, the things that ye carried (in procession) are now borne along heavily. The allusion is to the contrast between the light-hearted carrying of the images on festal occasions by their votaries (Isaiah 45:20), and their slow transport to foreign lands on the backs of wearied beasts.Parallel Commentaries ... Hebrew Belבֵּל֙ (bêl) Noun - proper - masculine singular Strong's 1078: Bel -- a chief Babylonian deity crouches; כָּרַ֥ע (kā·ra‘) Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 3766: To bend the knee, to sink, to prostrate Nebo נְב֔וֹ (nə·ḇōw) Noun - proper - masculine singular Strong's 5015: Nebo -- a city in Moab, also a mountain in Moab cowers. קֹרֵ֣ס (qō·rês) Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular Strong's 7164: To bend down, stoop, crouch Their idols עֲצַבֵּיהֶ֔ם (‘ă·ṣab·bê·hem) Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural Strong's 6091: An, image [weigh down] beasts לַחַיָּ֖ה (la·ḥay·yāh) Preposition-l, Article | Noun - feminine singular Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life and cattle. וְלַבְּהֵמָ֑ה (wə·lab·bə·hê·māh) Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - feminine singular Strong's 929: A dumb beast, any large quadruped, animal The images you carry נְשֻׂאֹתֵיכֶ֣ם (nə·śu·’ō·ṯê·ḵem) Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - feminine plural construct | second person masculine plural Strong's 5385: Something borne, a load are burdensome, עֲמוּס֔וֹת (‘ă·mū·sō·wṯ) Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - feminine plural Strong's 6006: To load, impose a, burden a load מַשָּׂ֖א (maś·śā) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 4853: A burden, tribute, porterage, an utterance, chiefly a, doom, singing, mental, desire to the weary [animal]. לַעֲיֵפָֽה׃ (la·‘ă·yê·p̄āh) Preposition-l | Adjective - feminine singular Strong's 5889: Faint, weary Links Isaiah 46:1 NIVIsaiah 46:1 NLT Isaiah 46:1 ESV Isaiah 46:1 NASB Isaiah 46:1 KJV Isaiah 46:1 BibleApps.com Isaiah 46:1 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 46:1 Chinese Bible Isaiah 46:1 French Bible Isaiah 46:1 Catholic Bible OT Prophets: Isaiah 46:1 Bel bows down Nebo stoops (Isa Isi Is) |
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