Isaiah 41:24

24 You, indeed, are nothing and your work is nothing at all; whoever chooses you is an abomination.

Isaiah 41:24 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 41:24

Behold, ye are of nothing
Not as to the matter of them, for they were made of gold, silver, brass but as to the divinity of them: there was none in them, they were of no worth and value; they could do nothing, either good or evil, either help their friends, or hurt their enemies; yea, they were less than nothing; for the words may be rendered by way of comparison, "behold, ye are less than nothing"; {a}. (See Gill on Isaiah 40:17); and your work of nought;
the workmanship bestowed on them, in casting or carving them, was all to no purpose, and answered no end; or the work they did, or pretended to do, their feigned oracles, and false predictions: or, "worse than nothing": some render it, "worse than a viper" F2; a word like this is used for one, ( Isaiah 49:5 ) and so denotes the poisonous and pernicious effects of idolatry: an abomination is he that chooseth you;
as the object of his worship; he is not only abominable, but an abomination itself to God, and to all men of sense and religion; for the choice he makes of an idol to be his god shows him to be a man void of common sense and reason, and destitute of all true religion and godliness, and must be a stupid sottish creature. The Targum is,

``an abomination is that which ye have chosen for yourselves, or in which ye delight;''
meaning their idols. This is the final issue of the controversy, and the judgment passed both upon the idols and their worshippers.
FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Nyam Mta) "vos minus quam nihil [estis]", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F2 (epam) "pejus [opere] viperae", Junius & Tremellius; "pejus [est opere] basilisci", Piscator.

Isaiah 41:24 In-Context

22 Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, so that we may consider them, and that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come.
23 Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be afraid and terrified.
24 You, indeed, are nothing and your work is nothing at all; whoever chooses you is an abomination.
25 I stirred up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun he was summoned by name. He shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay.
26 Who declared it from the beginning, so that we might know, and beforehand, so that we might say, "He is right"? There was no one who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.