Isaiah 41:24 (DBY)

Passage

Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 41:22 Let them bring them forward, and declare to us what shall happen: shew the former things, what they are, that we may give attention to them, and know the end of them; or let us hear things to come:

Isaiah 41:23 declare the things that are to happen hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be astonished, and behold it together.

Isaiah 41:24 Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

Isaiah 41:25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come, from the rising of the sun, he who will call upon my name; and he shall come upon princes as on mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

Isaiah 41:26 Who hath declared [it] from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, [It is] right? Indeed, there is none that declareth; no, none that sheweth; no, none that heareth your words.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "behold", "less", "than", "nothing", "nought", "abomination", and "chooseth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "behold" and "less", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 23's "declare the things that are to happen..." into verse 25's "I have raised up one from the...", so "behold" and "less" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "behold" and "less" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.