Just as the previous subsection came to a climax in verse 24 with a statement about the nonexistence of the gods, this one does also. The LORD’s speech comes to an end here, which Good News Translation indicates with the closing double quote mark.

As in verse 24, the word Behold calls attention to the climax here.

They are all a delusion is literally “all of them [are] trouble.” “All of them” is emphatic since it occurs at the beginning of the clause. The Hebrew noun of Masoretic Text rendered delusion (ʾawen) normally means “trouble/misfortune” or “iniquity/evil” (see the comments on 1.13). Revised Standard Version‘s rendering here is incorrect. Most translations follow the principal Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript, which has the Hebrew word ʾayin, meaning “nothing” (see verse 11); for example, for this clause Contemporary English Version has “They are nothing” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and New International Version says “they are all false.” The sense of this reading is that the gods of the nations do not exist. However, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests retaining Masoretic Text. If so, the word for delusion should be rendered according to its usual sense of “trouble” or “evil.” The idea here seems to be that these gods cause trouble. Translators may follow either Masoretic Text with “trouble” (see the examples below) or Dead Sea Scrolls with “nothing.”

Their works are nothing means that the gods are unable to do anything. Nothing renders a different Hebrew word than the one in verse 11, but it continues the theme of nothingness in this chapter. For this line Bible en français courant has “what they do is nil,” and Revised English Bible says “Nothing they do amounts to anything.”

Their molten images are empty wind: The pronoun their refers to the gods. Their molten images does not mean not that the gods owned the images, but that the images were made of the gods. The Hebrew word rendered molten images comes from a root meaning “to pour.” It can also refer to drink offerings. Here it points to idols made by pouring molten metal into molds. Translators may say simply “idols” (Good News Translation) or “statues” (New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

Empty wind is literally “wind and nothingness,” which is figurative language for the worthlessness of the idols. The Hebrew word for empty is the same one rendered “emptiness” in 40.17 (see the comments there). For the whole expression Revised English Bible says “so much wind, mere nothings,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “naught and nil.” Good News Translation suggests the idols are “weak and powerless,” since they actually had a physical shape.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Look, all of them cause trouble;
they can do nothing,
their images are just so much wind and emptiness.

• Look, all of them are nothing but trouble;
they cannot do anything,
and their images/statues are like wind without any substance.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .