Behold, ye are of nothing,.... Not as to the matter of them, for they were made of gold, silver, brass, &c. but as to the divinity of them: there was none in them, they were of no worth and value; they could do nothing, either good or evil, either help their friends, or hurt their enemies; yea, they were less than nothing; for the words may be rendered by way of comparison, "behold, ye are less than nothing"; .
See Gill on "Isa 40:17";and your work of nought; the workmanship bestowed on them, in casting or carving them, was all to no purpose, and answered no end; or the work they did, or pretended to do, their feigned oracles, and false predictions: or, "worse than nothing": some render it, "worse than a viper" ; a word like this is used for one, Isa 49:5 and so denotes the poisonous and pernicious effects of idolatry:an abomination is he that chooseth you; as the object of his worship; he is not only abominable, but an abomination itself to God, and to all men of sense and religion; for the choice he makes of an idol to be his god shows him to be a man void of common sense and reason, and destitute of all true religion and godliness, and must be a stupid sottish creature.
The Targum is,"an abomination is that which ye have chosen for yourselves, or in which ye delight;''meaning their idols. This is the final issue of the controversy, and the judgment passed both upon the idols and their worshippers.
Nyam Mta "vos minus quam nihil [estis]", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.