Isaiah 2:20
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
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;
American King James Version (AKJV)
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;
American Standard Version (ASV)
In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
Basic English Translation (BBE)
In that day men will put their images of silver and of gold, which they made for worship, in the keeping of the beasts of the dark places;
Webster's Revision
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;
World English Bible
In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
English Revised Version (ERV)
In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made for him to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
Definitions for Isaiah 2:20
Clarke's Isaiah 2:20 Bible Commentary
Which they made each one for himself to worship "Which they have made to worship" - The word לו lo, for himself, is omitted by two ancient MSS., and is unnecessary. It does not appear that any copy of the Septuagint has it, except MS. Pachom, and MS. 1. D. II., and they have ἑαυτοις, להם lahem, to themselves.
To the moles - They shall carry their idols with them into the dark caverns, old ruins, or desolate places, to which they shall flee for refuge; and so shall give them up, and relinquish them to the filthy animals that frequent such places, and have taken possession of them as their proper habitation. Bellonias, Greaves, P. Lucas, and many other travelers, speak of bats of an enormous size, as inhabiting the Great Pyramid. See Harmer, Obs., vol. ii., 455. Three MSS. express חפרפרות chapharperoth, the moles as one word.
Barnes's Isaiah 2:20 Bible Commentary
In that day - That is, in the time when God would come forth to inflict punishment. Probably the day to which the prophet refers here was the time of the captivity at Babylon.
A man shall cast ... - That is, "all" who have idols, or who have been trusting in them. Valuable as they may be - made of gold and silver; and much as he may "now" rely on them or worship them, yet he shall then see their vanity, and shall cast them into dark, obscure places, or holes, where are moles and bats.
To the moles - פרות לחפר lachepor pērôth. Probably this should be read as a single word, and it is usually interpreted "moles." Jerome interprets it as mice or moles, from חפר châphar, "to dig." The word is formed by doubling the radical letters to give "intensity." Similar instances of words being divided in the Hebrew, which are nevertheless to be read as one, occur in 2 Chronicles 24:6; Jeremiah 46:20; Lamentations 4:3; Ezekiel 27:6. The mole is a well-known animal, with exceedingly small eyes, that burrows under ground, lives in the dark, and subsists on roots. The bat lives in o d ruins, and behind the bark of trees, and flies only in the night. They "resemble" each other, and are used here in connection, because "both" dwell amidst ruins and in obscure places; both are regarded as animals of the lowest order; both are of the same genus, and both are almost blind. The sense is, therefore, that the idols which had before been so highly venerated, would now be despised, and cast into obscure places, and amidst ruins, as worthless; see Bochart's "Hieroz.," P. i., Lib. iii., p. 1032. Ed. 1663.
And to the bats - 'The East may be termed the country of bats; they hang by hundreds and thousands in caves, ruins, and under the roofs of large buildings. To enter such places, especially after rain, is "most" offensive. I have lived in rooms where it was sickening to remain, on account of the smell produced by those creatures, and whence it was almost impossible to expel them. What from the appearance of the creature, its sunken diminutive eye, its short legs (with which it cannot walk), its leather-like wings, its half-hairy, oily skin, its offensive ordure ever and anon dropping on the ground, its time for food and sport, darkness, makes it one of the most disgusting creatures to the people of the East. No wonder, then, that its name is used by the Hindoos (as by the prophet) for an epithet of contempt. When a house ceases to please the inhabitants, on account of being haunted, they say, Give it to the "bats." "Alas! alas! my wife and children are dead; my houses, my buildings, are all given to the bats." People ask, when passing a tenantless house, "Why is this habitation given to the bats?"' - "Roberts." The meaning is, that the man would throw his idols into such places as the bats occupy - he would so see their vanity, and so despise them, as to throw them into old ruins and dark places.
Wesley's Isaiah 2:20 Bible Commentary
2:20 Shall cast - Into the meanest and darkest places, in which moles and bats have their abode.