What Does Isaiah 2:20 Mean?
In that day a man shall throw away his nothings of silver and nothings of gold, which they made for themselves to bow down before, to the moles and to the bats;
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;THE KEY
What is precious enough to bow before becomes something a person throws into the dark when it can no longer bear their trust.
THE MEANING
What you make into a source of safety can be exposed as something you can only throw away. The silver and gold remain precious as metal, but the worship placed on them cannot carry the person through the day of terror. The verse speaks now of false security collapsing in the moment it is most needed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that something you can make, own, and polish can carry the weight of your trust. Fear exposes it as an object you can only cast aside.
THE ROOT
יַשְׁלִיךְ
yashlikh
GROWS FROM
שלך
To throw or cast.
“throw away” in this verse is yashlikh. The verse’s central movement is a reversal: the worshipper once bows toward these objects, then throws them away. This root also describes casting a burden onto the LORD, so what matters is what is thrown and where it is placed.
ALSO GROWS
hashlekh: Cast.
הַשְׁלֵךְ
Psalm 55:22 uses the same root for casting a burden upon the LORD, who sustains the one carrying it.
hashlikhu: Cast away.
הַשְׁלִיכוּ
Ezekiel 18:31 uses the same root for casting away transgressions; the throwing motion can turn toward what must be discarded.
כַסְפּוֹ
kaspo
GROWS FROM
כסף
To long for or yearn; the same consonantal family names silver and money.
Silver is connected in Hebrew with longing: what is desired has been shaped into an object of worship. Here the precious metal becomes something the worshipper later throws away.
ALSO GROWS
kesef: Silver or money.
כֶּסֶף
This is the precious material fashioned into an idol in the verse.
nikhsaf: Longed for or yearned for.
נִכְסַף
This verbal form shares the root family, linking the valued metal with desire.
לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹת
lehishtachavot
GROWS FROM
שחה
To bow low or prostrate oneself.
“bow down before” in this verse is lehishtachavot. The word rendered “worship” describes a body lowering itself. The verse makes the posture concrete: the human being bows before a thing made by human hands.
ALSO GROWS
shachah: To bow low or prostrate.
שָׁחָה
The root keeps the physical posture visible beneath the English word “worship.”
hishtachavah: To prostrate oneself or bow down.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This related form makes the self-lowering explicit: the worshipper places themselves beneath the object.
THE PATTERN
Human-made objects trusted as powers are exposed as powerless, and trust turns away from them.
Those who make them are like them, everyone who leans on them.For in that day every man will throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands made for you as missing the mark.For they themselves report concerning us what sort of entry we had to you, and how you turned around to God from the idols, to serve the living and true God.THE THREAD
Throw your load upon the LORD, and he holds you. He does not give the aligned one to totter for the ages.The verb “cast” comes from the same Hebrew root in both verses. Here the idols are thrown away; in the psalm, a burden is cast upon the LORD, who sustains the one carrying it.
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