Isaiah 40:17
in Isaiah 40All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
KJV
All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
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This verse in Isaiah 40
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 17) All nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. LXX: All the nations are as nothing in his sight, and they are counted as worthless. But if all nations are in his sight as if they were not, and are considered as nothing and empty (though in all nations and in Israel also), therefore he himself is also as if he were not, and is considered as nothing and empty.
This site's exposition
like a drop in a bucket
on Isaiah 40:15-17
Against that wisdom the nations are set for scale, like a drop in a bucket and a speck of dust on the scales. All the nations are as nothing before Him, counted as nothingness and emptiness, and the Hebrew word for emptiness is used later of the idols.
This site's exposition
He regards them as nothingness and emptiness
Barnes points out that emptiness renders tohu, the word Genesis 1:2 uses for the formless earth before creation. Set beside the Creator, all the nations count as that unformed waste. Barnes calls the language hyperbole for their small weight before God.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
He teaches, therefore, that all of this service through blood and sacrifice is no longer appropriate for God. Neither someone offering all the four-footed creatures of the earth nor all of Lebanon and all the matter produced in it as sacrifices would be worthy before God. "All the nations are as nothing, and are reckoned as nothing." What kind of clinging to idolatrous straying did God not know about?
(Verse 12 and following) Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills on a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did he consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding? 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. And Lebanon is not enough to burn, and its animals are not enough for a burnt offering. All nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Who has shown him the way of justice, and who has taught him knowledge? Behold, all the nations are as a drop in a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor all the animals enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing in his sight, and they are counted as worthless. Let no one think that the calling of the nations is difficult, and that all flesh will see the salvation of God. […]
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 2 -- On Faith · Written before 523.
proposed
And the Prophet said, "He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers;" and again, "He looketh on the earth and it trembleth; He rebuketh the mountains, and they smoke." And again the prophet Isaiah saith, "All the nations are …
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureQuaestiones Disputatae, De Mysterio Trinitatis, Question 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And just as all things compared to the divine power can do virtually nothing, so all things compared to the divine essence are virtually the least. Whence in respect to the divine being this entire world is as something minimal. And this is what is …
He also shows that it exceeds every perfection of creation: both natural, for the being of creatures is, in respect to God, non being; for Dionysius says, in his book on Divine Names 12.4, that so far as the participants surpass non-participants, and the participations …
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
All nations before him are as nothing,....
He takes them up, and throws them away from him, as a very little thing, not worth speaking of. They are all in his eye as nothing, as if they had no being at all; for they add nothing to his perfection and all-sufficiency. They are counted by him, and are to be counted by us in comparison of him, less than nothing, and vanity.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Are as nothing - This expresses literally what had been expressed by the beautiful and striking imagery above. Less than nothing - A strong hyperbolic expression denoting the utter insignificance of the nations as compared with God. Such expressions are common in the Scriptures. And vanity - Hebrew, תהו tôhû - ‘Emptiness;’ the word which in Gen 1:2 is rendered ‘without form.’
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַגּוֹיִ֖ם | hagoyim | the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| כְּאַ֣יִן | keayin | [are] as nothing | H369 → | 789 times |
| נֶגְדּ֑וֹ | negdo | before him | H5048 → | 151 times |
| מֵאֶ֥פֶס | meefes | from nothingness | H657 → | 44 times |
| וָתֹ֖הוּ | vatohu | and emptiness | H8414 → | 20 times |
| נֶחְשְׁבוּ־ | nechshevu- | they are regarded | H2803 → | 124 times |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | by him |
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַגּוֹיִ֖םthe nations
hagoyimH1471 →561 times
כְּאַ֣יִן[are] as nothing
keayinH369 →789 times
נֶגְדּ֑וֹbefore him
negdoH5048 →151 times
מֵאֶ֥פֶסfrom nothingness
meefesH657 →44 times
וָתֹ֖הוּand emptiness
vatohuH8414 →20 times
נֶחְשְׁבוּ־they are regarded
nechshevu-H2803 →124 times
לֽוֹ׃by him
lo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
it leads to
- Psalms 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- Isaiah 40:15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
- Psalms 118:9
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.
- Psalms 39:11
You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah
- Psalms 39:5
Through
2 Corinthians 12:11I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 11:5
I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:5
Through
Job 25:6how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:14
Do not fear, O worm of Jacob, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
- Psalms 22:6
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
- Isaiah 41:14
Through
Isaiah 29:7All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,
it leads to
- Job 20:8
He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
- Job 20:8
Where this verse is studied
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About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Quaestiones Disputatae, De Mysterio Trinitatis, Question 4; Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:18; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 2 -- On Faith and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.