Isaiah 40:17

15 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.

16 Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

18 To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

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

Compare

BSB
All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
KJV
All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
WEB
All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
ASV
All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
DARBY
All the nations are as nothing before him; they are esteemed by him less than a cipher, and vanity.
BLB
All the nations [are] as nothing before Him, they are counted by Him [as less] than nothing and emptiness.
ÅB
Alle folkene er som intet for ham; som ingenting og bare tomhet er de aktet av ham.
OTB
For Ham er alle nasjonene som ingenting; de regnes av Ham som mindre enn ingenting og meningsløse.
B1930
Alle folkene er som intet for ham; som ingenting og bare tomhet er de aktet av ham.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Psalms 62:9

    Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

    Read in context
  • Daniel 4:34–35

    But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

    Read in context
  • Isaiah 29:7

    All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her— will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

    Read in context