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 contextDaniel 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 contextIsaiah 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