Isaiah 40:12–26

¹²Who 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,^h and the hills in a balance?

¹³Who has measured up the spirit of Yahweh

or informed him as his counselorⁱ?

¹⁴With whom has he consulted, that^j he enlightened him^k

and taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and made the way of understanding known to him?

¹⁵Look! 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.

¹⁶And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire,

and its animals^l not enough for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All the nations are like nothing before him;

they are counted by him as^m nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸And to whom will you liken God?

And to what likeness will you compare him?

¹⁹A craftsman pours out the idol,

and a goldsmithⁿ overlays it with gold,

and he smelts chains of silver.

²⁰The 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.

²¹Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told to you from the beginning?^o

Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?

²²He 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,

²³the one who brings^p princes to nothing;

he makes rulers of the earth like nothing.

²⁴Indeed, hardly are they planted; indeed, hardly are they sown;

indeed, hardly has their shoot taken root in the earth

when^q he blows on them and they wither,

and the tempest carries them like stubble.

²⁵“And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?” says the holy one.

²⁶Lift your eyes up on high, and see! Who created these?

The one who brings out their host by number.

He calls all them by name.

Because he is great of power

and mighty of power, not one is missing.