Isaiah 42:17
They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
Those who put their trust in carved images and call cast metal images their gods will be turned back and greatly ashamed. That shame is set over against the Lord as Creator who gives breath and spirit to people, and who will not give His glory to another nor His praise to carved images. It stands alongside His giving His Servant as a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to free prisoners from prison and those in darkness from confinement, and to call the deaf to hear and the blind to see while the Lord magnifies the law and makes it honorable.
The shame of idol trusters will come when the Lord goes forth as a mighty man to prevail against His enemies, after long holding His peace, stirring up jealousy and crying out and roaring like a man of war. At that same time He will bring the blind by a way they did not know, lead them in paths they have not known, make darkness light before them and make crooked things straight, and He will not forsake them. The declaration of shame for idol worshipers is stated alongside the Lord's promise to deliver captives from the mighty.
The verse is part of God's revelation of His purpose for His people that they are not to turn from Him to seek wisdom from finite sources, for God alone is the source of wisdom, redemption, righteousness, and salvation. The terms servant, Israel, and servant of the Lord in this context mean anyone the Lord selects and appoints to do a certain work as a minister of His will, even one as ignorant of His will as Nebuchadnezzar was. Isaiah 42 foretells the work of presenting the warning message to the world and explaining why its messengers believe as they do, and this verse is part of the work outlined for the Lord's appointed servants.
That work is now before God's people to give most startling warning messages out of the usual order to people dead in trespasses and sins in unworked places such as New York, to arouse the blind who have eyes and the deaf who have ears, and though some will resist light and evidence, that resistance proves the testing message for this time is being given. The verse contrasts the shame of idol trusters with God's assurance that He will not leave His people to shame but will carry out His work just as He ordained it, and it shows that the set time to favor Zion will soon come for which God has provided men and means to accomplish His work. In that work, God desires people to understand His claims upon them and will judge anyone who comes between others and God to lead them into paths not prepared for the ransomed, His work is to be presented in distinct holy sacred lines, His kingdom advances not with outward observation but by the gentleness of the inspiration of His word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul, and union with Christ joins the majesty of an omnipotent King with the gentleness and tenderness of a caretaking shepherd.