Isaiah 40:12–26

¹²Who has ^ameasured the ¹waters in the hollow of His hand,

And ²encompassed the heavens by the ³span,

And ⁴calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,

And weighed the mountains in a balance

And the hills in a pair of scales?

^13aWho has ¹encompassed the Spirit of Yahweh,

Or as His ^bcounselor has informed Him?

^14aWith whom did He take counsel and who ^bgave Him understanding?

And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge

And made Him know the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the ^anations are like a drop from a bucket,

And are counted as a speck of ^bdust on the scales;

Behold, He lifts up the coastlands like fine dust.

¹⁶Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,

Nor its ^abeasts enough for a burnt offering.

^17aAll the nations are as nothing before Him;

They are counted by Him as non-existent and utterly formless.

^18aTo whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

¹⁹As for the ^agraven images, a craftsman casts it,

A goldsmith ^bplates it with gold,

And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

²⁰He who is too impoverished to make such a contribution

Chooses a ^atree that does not rot;

He seeks out for himself a wise craftsman

To ¹prepare a graven image that ^bwill not be shaken.

^21aDo you not know? Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood ^bfrom the foundations of the earth?

²²It is He who ¹inhabits above the ^2acircle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like ^bgrasshoppers;

It is He who ^cstretches out the heavens like a ^dcurtain

And spreads them out like a ^etent to inhabit.

²³It is He who reduces ^arulers to nothing,

Who ^bmakes the ¹judges of the earth utterly formless.

²⁴¹Scarcely have they been planted;

²Scarcely have they been sown;

³Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

But He merely blows on them, and they ⁴wither,

And the ^astorm carries them away like stubble.

²⁵“^aTo whom then will you liken Me

That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.

^26aLift up your eyes on high

And see ^bwho has created these stars,

The ^cOne who leads forth their host by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the ^dgreatness of His vigor and the ¹strength of His power,

^eNot one of them is missing.