Isaiah 40:18-26

New American Standard Bible 1995

^18 (A)To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
¹⁹ As for the ^[a](B)idol, a craftsman casts it,
A goldsmith ^(C)plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a ^(D)tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To ^[b]prepare ^[c]an idol that ^(E)will not totter.

^21 (F)Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood ^(G)from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is He who ^[d]sits above the ^[e](H)circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like ^(I)grasshoppers,
Who ^(J)stretches out the heavens like a ^(K)curtain
And spreads them out like a ^(L)tent to dwell in.
²³ He it is who reduces ^(M)rulers to nothing,
Who ^(N)makes the judges of the earth ^[f]meaningless.
^24 [g]Scarcely have they been planted,
^[h]Scarcely have they been sown,
^[i]Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the ^(O)storm carries them away like stubble.
²⁵ “^(P)To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
^26 (Q)Lift up your eyes on high
And see ^(R)who has created these stars,
The ^(S)One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the ^(T)greatness of His might and the ^[j]strength of His power,
^(U)Not one of them is missing.