Isaiah 40:12-26

Lexham English Bible

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
    and marked off the heavens with a span,
comprehended the dust of the earth in a third of a measure
    and weighed out the mountains in the scales,^[a] and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who has measured up the spirit of Yahweh
    or informed him as his counselor^[b]?
¹⁴ With whom has he consulted, that^[c] he enlightened him^[d]
    and taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
    and made the way of understanding known to him?
¹⁵ Look! The nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and they are counted like dust of the balances!
        Look! He weighs the islands like a thin covering.
¹⁶ And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire,
    and its animals^[e] not enough for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All the nations are like nothing before him;
    they are counted by him as^[f] nothing and emptiness.
¹⁸ And to whom will you liken God?
    And to what likeness will you compare him?
¹⁹ A craftsman pours out the idol,
    and a goldsmith^[g] overlays it with gold,
        and he smelts chains of silver.
²⁰ The one who is too impoverished for a gift chooses wood that will not rot;
    he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image that will not be knocked over.
²¹ Have you not known?
    Have you not heard?
Has it not been told to you from the beginning?^[h]
    Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?
²² He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
the one who stretches out the heavens like a veil
    and spreads them out like a tent to live in,
²³ the one who brings^[i] princes to nothing;
    he makes rulers of the earth like nothing.
²⁴ Indeed, hardly are they planted; indeed, hardly are they sown;
    indeed, hardly has their shoot taken root in the earth
when^[j] he blows on them and they wither,
    and the tempest carries them like stubble.