Isaiah 46:2

They; either,

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

2. The Babylonians, who are sufficiently implied in that expression, their idols, Isaiah 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.