Logos Bible Study

Isaiah 40:15–17

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary LanguageOther versions

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Why, the nations are but a drop in a bucket,

a mere smudge on a window.

Watch him sweep up the islands

like so much dust off the floor!

There aren’t enough trees in Lebanon

nor enough animals in those vast forests

to furnish adequate fuel and offerings for his worship.

All the nations add up to simply nothing before him—

less than nothing is more like it. A minus.

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In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales;

he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,

nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

Before him all the nations are as nothing;

they are regarded by him as worthless

and less than nothing.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Look, 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.

Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,

or its animals enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him;

they are considered by him

as empty nothingness.

NLTNew Living Translation

No, for all the nations of the world

are but a drop in the bucket.

They are nothing more

than dust on the scales.

He picks up the whole earth

as though it were a grain of sand.

All the wood in Lebanon’s forests

and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough

to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.

The nations of the world are worth nothing to him.

In his eyes they count for less than nothing—

mere emptiness and froth.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

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.

And Lebanon is not enough to light a fire,

and its animals not enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are like nothing before him;

they are counted by him as nothing and emptiness.

KJV 1900King James Version

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,

And are counted as the small dust of the balance:

Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

Nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

All nations before him are as nothing;

And they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.