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? ^l

Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure

or weighed the mountains in a balance

and the hills in the scales?

¹³Who has directed ^mthe Spirit of the Lord,

or who gave Him His counsel? ⁿ

¹⁴Who did He consult with?

Who gave Him understanding ^o

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 in the scales;

He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon is not enough for fuel,

or its animals enough for a burnt offering. ^p

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before Him;

they are considered by Him

as nothingness and emptiness. ^q

¹⁸Who will you compare God with?

What likeness will you compare Him to? ^r

¹⁹To an idol?—something that a smelter casts,

and a metalworker plates with gold

and makes silver welds for it? ^s

²⁰To one who shapes a pedestal,

choosing wood that does not rot? ^t

He looks for a skilled craftsman

to set up an idol that will not fall over. ^u

²¹Do you not know? ^v

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you

from the beginning?

Have you not considered

the foundations of the earth? ^w

²²God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. ^x

He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth ^y

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

²³He reduces princes to nothing ^a

and makes judges of the earth irrational.

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. ^b

²⁵“Who will you compare Me to, ^c

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

²⁶Look up ^dand see:

who created ^ethese?

He brings out the starry host by number;

He calls all of them by name. ^f

Because of His great power and strength,

not one of them is missing.