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Isaiah 46 Bible study: I will carry you

Isaiah 46 turns on who carries whom. The idols are carried by animals, "a burden for the weary" (46:1). But God says, "I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry" (46:4), and in Hebrew those are the two verbs of 46:7, where they carry their god: "They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it" (46:7).

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“Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.”
Isaiah 46:4 · World English Bible

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“In Isaiah 46:1, idols are carried by animals and livestock.”

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What's really going on

Who carries whom

In the text

Here is what almost everyone misses: this chapter is built on words for carrying. It opens with Bel and Nebo bowing and stooping, "Bel bows down. Nebo stoops" (46:1) (tap stoop), and their idols carried by animals: "Their idols are carried by animals, and on the livestock. The things that you carried around are heavy loads, a burden for the weary" (46:1) (tap heavy loads, burden). Then: "They stoop and they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but they have gone into captivity" (46:2) (tap deliver). Then the voice turns to the "house of Jacob", who "have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb" (46:3). In Hebrew the first carried of 46:3 is amas, the verb behind 46:1's heavy loads; the second is nasa (tap bear), and Strong's gives 46:1's things that you carried around as a "passive participle of 5375", nasa. Then comes the promise: "I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver" (46:4) (tap carry). Those who stoop and bow down "could not deliver the burden" (46:2); the one speaking says "and will deliver" (46:4), with the same Hebrew verb.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Isaiah 46

That was a taste

The rest of Isaiah 46 is waiting in Favor

  • They carry it on their shoulder
  • The end from the beginning
  • Far, and not far off
  • Carried, in other books
  • Old age and gray hairs
  • 10 questions as you read
  • 14 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it

סָבַלsavalsay sa-VAL

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "bear a heavy load". Strong's: "to carry (literally or figuratively), or (reflexively) be burdensome". The verse has it twice: "even to gray hairs I will carry you", and "Yes, I will carry, and will deliver" (46:4). Three verses later it is what is done with the god that is made: "They carry it, and set it in its place" (46:7). Isaiah has the verb five times, and three of them are in this chapter. Strong's gives the noun sovel, burden, as "from 5445", this verb, and the chapter on Isaiah 10 studies it: "his burden will depart from off your shoulder" (Isaiah 10:27).

For your group

Isaiah 46 Bible study questions

  1. 1In 46:1 the idols have to be carried, "a burden for the weary" (46:1); in 46:3-4 the house of Jacob is carried, from birth to gray hairs. What stands out to you as you set those side by side?
  2. 2"Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you" (46:4). Think of someone older whose faith you have watched. What have you seen of this promise in their life?
  3. 3"Remember the former things of old" (46:9). What is one thing God has done, in Scripture or in your own story, that you come back to when the future feels uncertain?

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home