Isaiah 40:14-22

English Standard Version

¹⁴Whom did he consult,
    and who made him understand?
^(A)Who taught him the path of justice,
    and taught him knowledge,
    and showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and are accounted ^(B)as the dust on the scales;
    behold, he takes up ^(C)the coastlands like fine dust.
¹⁶Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
    nor are ^(D)its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
¹⁷^(E)All the nations are as nothing before him,
    they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸^(F)To whom then will you liken God,
    ^(G)or what likeness compare with him?
¹⁹^(H)An idol! A craftsman casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and casts for it silver chains.
²⁰^(I)He who is too impoverished for an offering
    chooses wood^[a] that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
    to set up an idol that will not move.

²¹^(J)Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are ^(K)like grasshoppers;
^(L)who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;