Isaiah 46:2

Isa 46:2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.

Ver. 2. They stoop.] The Babylonians, together with their idols; ridiculous gods, that could be thus plundered, carried captives, borne on the backs of asses.

But themselves are gone into captivity.] Heb., And their soul went into captivity; that is, their idols, that were dear unto them as their very souls.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He derideth the idols, which had neither soul nor sense.

The beasts that carried the idols, fell down under their burden.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

deliver--from the enemies' hands.

burden--their images laid on the beasts (Isa 46:1).

themselves--the gods, here also distinguished from their images.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. They could not deliver the burden - "They could not deliver their own charge"] That is, their worshippers, who ought to have been borne by them. See the two next verses. The Chaldee and Syriac Versions render it in effect to the same purpose, those that bear them, meaning their worshippers; but how they can render massa in an active sense, I do not understand.

For לא lo, not, ולא velo, and they could not, is the reading of twenty-four of Kennicott's, sixteen of De Rossi's, and two of my own MSS. The added vau gives more elegance to the passage.

But themselves - "Even they themselves"] For ונפשם venaphsham, an ancient MS. has כי נפשם ki naphsham, with more force.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) They could not deliver the burden.—The deities are, for the moment, distinguished from their images. They are powerless to rescue them. So far as they have a soul or being at all, that very being is carried away captive.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. they could not deliver] i.e. cause to escape.

themselves are gone into captivity] The distinction allowed between the gods and their images is an ironical concession to heathen modes of thought. The fact that the gods are unable to save their own images means that they have vanished. The recently discovered inscriptions have shewn, however, that the idols of Babylon had nothing to fear from Cyrus.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They stoop, they bow together,.... Either the beasts under their burdens, or other idols besides those mentioned; or rather the Babylonians themselves, who were obliged to submit to the conquerors:

they could not deliver the burdens; the idols could not save themselves from being laid as burdens upon the beasts, any more than they could save their worshippers: so the Targum understands this and the preceding clause of them;

"they are cut off, and cut to pieces together, they could not deliver those that carried them;''

or else the Babylonians are designed, who could not save their gods from being used in this shameful manner:

but themselves are gone into captivity, or "their souls" (m); what were as dear to them as their own souls, their idols; to whom also souls may be ascribed by way of derision, being inanimate as well as irrational; and it is not unusual for idols to be said to be carried captive; hence those words of Tertullian, "manent et simulachra caplira": or rather the Babylonians, who went into captivity themselves, and so could not save their idols: thus they who had led captive the Jews are led captive themselves; and thus it will be with mystical Babylon, Rev 13:10.

(m) "et animae eorum", V. L. Munster, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They stoop - Bel, and Nebo, and all the Babylonian gods (see Isa 46:1).

They could not deliver the burden - The word ‘burden’ here, probably means the load of metal, wood, and stone, of which the idols were composed. The gods whom the Babylonians worshipped had not even power to protect the images which were made to represent them, and which had now become a heavy burden to the animals and wains which were carrying them away. They could not rescue them from the hands of the conqueror; and how unable were they, therefore, to defend those who put their trust in them. The Vulgate renders this, ‘They could not deliver him that bare them.’ The Septuagint, ‘You are carrying them like a burden bound on the weary, faint, and hungry; who are all without strength, and unable to escape from battle; and as for them, they are carried away captives!’

But themselves - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Their soul.’ The sense is, that the gods thus worshipped, so far from being able to defend those who worshipped them, had themselves become captive, and were borne to a distant land.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They. Literally, "their soul." (Haydock) --- The pagans must have supposed they had one. (Calmet) --- Captivity. "There are as many triumphs over the gods as over men." (Tertullian) --- The former shared the fate of their adorers. Their statues were plundered.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They; either,

1. The idols, of whom these words are used, Isa 46:1. Or,

2. The Babylonians, who are sufficiently implied in that expression, their idols, Isa 46:1.

They bow down together; either,

1. One as well as another; or,

2. The Babylonians and their idols together, neither could help the other.

They could not deliver the burden; either,

1. The idols could not deliver themselves, who were now a burden to the beasts, and carried away by them; or,

2. The Babylonians could not deliver their idols, which he now had called burdens. And this sense seems most probable from the following clause, which clearly speaks of the same persons or things; but themselves, &c., Heb. their souls; for although the soul is here put for the person, as it commonly is, yet that title is never given to any idol or lifeless thing, but only to such creatures as have or had souls within their bodies. So the meaning of this and the foregoing verse is this, that neither the Babylonians nor their idols could either save themselves or one another, but both are bowed down and gone into captivity together.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They stoop, they bow down together; i.e. all the Babylonian gods would suffer equally not one would be able to protect himself. They could not deliver the burden. A distinction is here made between the god and the idol, which have hitherto been identified. The god was, in each case, unable to deliver, or save from capture, the heavy "burden" of gold, or silver, or bronze (i.e. his own image) which was carried off on the back of the "weary beast." On the contrary, the gods themselves the "souls" of the images, immanent in them were carried off with the images into captivity.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They - The Babylonians. Together - The Babylonians and their idols together, neither could help the other. Deliver - The Babylonians could not deliver their idols.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“They stoop, they bow together; they cannot save the load; themselves are gone into captivity.” The first clause may mean that they are now both fallen; or together may have reference to the other gods of Babylon, so as to mean that not only Bel and Nebo but all the rest are fallen. The last member of the first clause has been variously explained. The most satisfactory interpretation is the one which gives the word ‘load’ the same sense as in v. 1, and applies it to the images with which the beasts were charged or laden. These are then to be considered as distinguished by the writer from the gods which they represented. Bel and Nebo are unable to rescue their own images. This agrees well with the remainder of the sentence, ‘themselves are gone (or literally their self is gone) into captivity.’ This is the only way in which the reflexive pronoun could be made emphatic here without an awkward circumlocution. The antithesis is really between the material images of Bel and Nebo and themselves, so far as they had any real existence. The whole god, soul and body, all that there was of him, was gone into captivity. The idea of the conquest and captivity of tutelary gods was common in the ancient east, and is alluded to, besides this place, in Jer 48:7; Jer 49:3; Jos 10:5-6; Dan 11:8, to which may be added 1Sa 5:1. Whether the Prophet here refers to an actual event or an ideal one, and how the former supposition may be reconciled with the statement of Herodotus and Diodorus, that the great image of Bel at Babylon was not destroyed until the time of Xerxes, are questions growing out of the erroneous supposition that the passage has exclusive reference to the conquest by Cyrus; whereas it may include the whole series of events which resulted in the final downfall of the Babylonian idol worship.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

they could not deliver the burden to discharge the feces in their bowels as others discharge, in the normal manner.

deliver Heb. מַלֵּט, an expression of discharging from an embedded place. Comp. (supra 34:15) “There, the owl has made its nest, and she has laid eggs (וַתְּמַלֵט),” he has discharged her egg. Comp. also (infra 66:7) “And she has been delivered (וְהִמְלִיטָה) of a male child.” Jonathan, however, did not render these verses in this manner.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

They bow down. The beasts that carry the idols, bow down.

The burden. Their idols. נפשם Their souls, that is, the persons carried by the beasts, are gone into captivity. They were also carried away as captives. Others explain the verse thus: They, that is, all the idols that are left in Babylon, and are not yet mentioned, stoop and bow down, and cannot deliver the burden, for they must go themselves into captivity.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.