Isaiah 42:17

Blindness and deafness

17 Turned backward, utterly shamed are those who trust in idols, who say to a cast image, "You are our god!"

Isaiah 42:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 42:17

They shall be turned back
Either from their former course, from their idolatry and their idols, and be converted, and turn to the living God; or it may be understood of such Gentiles as were not converted, when others were, who should be put to flight, and should fly to the rocks and mountains to hide and cover them from the wrath of God; for this phrase is used of the overthrow of enemies, of their being obliged to turn their backs and flee: they shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven images;
as converted persons when they come to be convinced of the folly of their idolatrous practices are; and if not converted, yet are confounded when they find their idols cannot help and assist them, nor deliver them out of their trouble: that say to the molten images, ye are our gods;
as the Israelites did to the molten calf made by Aaron; and the stupidity of the one and the other is much alike; this of the Gentiles, and that of the Israelites.

Isaiah 42:17 In-Context

15 I will wither mountains and valleys, and I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into deserts, and I will dry up pools.

16 I will make the blind walk a road they don't know, and I will guide them in paths they don't know. But I will make darkness before them into light and rough places into level ground. These things I will do; I won't abandon them.

17 Turned backward, utterly shamed are those who trust in idols, who say to a cast image, "You are our god!"

18 Hear, deaf ones, and blind ones, look and see!

19 Who is blind if not my servant and deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like the restored one, blind like the servant of the LORD?