Isaiah 40:15

¹³ Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

¹⁴ With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷ All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
KJV: Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
WEB: Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
ASV: Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
DARBY: Behold, the nations are esteemed as a drop of the bucket, and as the fine dust on the scales; behold, he taketh up the isles as an atom.
BLB: Behold, the nations [are] like a drop from a bucket, and they have been reckoned like dust of the scales! Behold, the islands He lifts up like fine dust,

ÅB: Se, folkeferd er som en dråpe av et spann, og som et støvgrand i en vektskål er de aktet; se, øyene[^1] er som det fine støv han lar fare til værs.
OTB: Sannelig, nasjonene er som en dråpe i en bøtte; de regnes som støv på vektskålen; Han løfter opp øyene som fint støv.
B1930: Se, folkeferd er som en dråpe av et spann, og som et støvgrand i en vektskål er de aktet; se, øene er som det fine støv han lar fare til værs. / < SLM 97, 1. JES 42, 10.>

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Jeremiah 10:10
But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
Read in context
Isaiah 40:22
It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Read in context
Job 34:14–15
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
Read in context
Isaiah 29:5
Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Read in context
Isaiah 11:11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Read in context
Isaiah 41:5
The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
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Genesis 10:5
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
Read in context
Isaiah 66:19
And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
Read in context