Isaiah 40:12–26

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?^j

Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure

or weighed the mountains on a balance

and the hills on the scales?

¹³Who has directed^E the Spirit of the Lord,

or who gave him counsel?^k

¹⁴Who did he consult?

Who gave him understanding^l

and taught him the paths of justice?

Who taught him knowledge

and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;

he lifts up the islands like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,

or its animals enough for a burnt offering.^m

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him;

they are considered by him

as empty nothingness.ⁿ

¹⁸With whom will you compare God?

What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?^o

¹⁹An idol?—something that a smelter casts

and a metalworker plates with gold

and makes silver chains for?^p

²⁰A 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.^q

²¹Do you not know?^r

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you

from the beginning?

Have you not considered

the foundations of the earth?^s

²²God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.^t

He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth^u

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.^v

²³He reduces princes to nothing^w

and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.

²⁴They 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.^x

²⁵“To whom will you compare me,^y

or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶Look up and see!

Who created^z these?

He brings out the stars by number;

he calls all of them by name.^aa

Because of his great power and strength,

not one of them is missing.