Font Size
Isaiah 40:20-22
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
Isaiah 40:20-22
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
20 He who is so impoverished that he has no offering or oblation or rich gift to give [to his god is constrained to make a wooden offering, an idol; so he] chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to carve and set up an image that will not totter or deteriorate.
21 [You worshipers of idols, you are without excuse.] Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? [These things ought to convince you of God’s omnipotence and of the folly of bowing to idols.] Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?(A)
22 It is God Who sits above the circle (the horizon) of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; it is He Who stretches out the heavens like [gauze] curtains and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
Read full chapter
Isaiah 40:20-22
New International Version
Isaiah 40:20-22
New International Version
20 A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood(A) that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol(B) that will not topple.(C)
21 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?(D)
Has it not been told(E) you from the beginning?(F)
Have you not understood(G) since the earth was founded?(H)
22 He sits enthroned(I) above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.(J)
He stretches out the heavens(K) like a canopy,(L)
and spreads them out like a tent(M) to live in.(N)
Isaiah 40:20-22
King James Version
Isaiah 40:20-22
King James Version
20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
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 full chapter
Isaiah 40:20-22
English Standard Version
Isaiah 40:20-22
English Standard Version
20 (A)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 (B)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?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are (C)like grasshoppers;
(D)who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
Footnotes
- Isaiah 40:20 Or He chooses valuable wood
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) 
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.