18 With whom will you compare God?
What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?(A)
19 An idol?—something that a smelter casts
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver chains for?(B)
20 A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal
that will not rot.[a]
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.(C)

21 Do you not know?(D)
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?(E)
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.(F)
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth(G)
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.(H)
23 He reduces princes to nothing(I)
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.(J)

25 “To whom will you compare me,(K)
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up and see!
Who created(L) these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.(M)
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.

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Footnotes

  1. 40:20 Or who is too poor for such an offering, or who chooses mulberry wood as a votive gift; Hb obscure

18 “To whom, then, will you compare me,[a] the One who is[b] God?
    Or to what image will you liken me?[c]
19 To an idol? A craftsman makes[d] the image,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
        and casts silver chains.
20 To the impoverished person?
    He prepares[e] an offering—[f]
        wood that won’t rot—
Or to the one who chooses a skilled craftsman[g]
    and[h] seeks[i] to erect an idol that won’t topple?”

The Majesty of the Lord

21 “You know, don’t you?
    You have heard, haven’t you?
Hasn’t it been told you from the beginning?
    Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the[j] earth?
22 He’s the one who sits above the disk of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He’s the one who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to live in,
23 who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes void the rulers of the earth.
24 No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
        no sooner have[k] their stems taken root in the earth,
than[l] he blows on them, and they wither,
    and the tempest sweeps them away like stubble.

25 “To[m] whom, then, will you compare me,
    and to whom should I be equal?”
        asks the Holy One.
26 “Lift your eyes up to heaven and see
    who created all these—
the one who leads out their vast array of stars by number,
    calling them all by name—
because of his great might
    and his[n] powerful strength[o]
        and[p] not one is missing.”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 40:18 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack me
  2. Isaiah 40:18 1QIsaa LXX MT lack the One who is
  3. Isaiah 40:18 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read him
  4. Isaiah 40:19 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads casts
  5. Isaiah 40:20 1QIsaa MT LXX lack prepares
  6. Isaiah 40:20 So MT; later 1QIsaa scribe includes this line
  7. Isaiah 40:20 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read chooses wood
  8. Isaiah 40:20 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
  9. Isaiah 40:20 So 1QIsaa; MT reads seeks a skilled craftsman
  10. Isaiah 40:21 So MT; implied in 1QIsaa
  11. Isaiah 40:24 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT LXX read has
  12. Isaiah 40:24 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT read and then; LXX lacks than
  13. Isaiah 40:25 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab MT read And to
  14. Isaiah 40:26 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack his
  15. Isaiah 40:26 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads strong
  16. Isaiah 40:26 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and