Isaiah 40:12

The Lord is Incomparable

40:12 Who has measured out the waters ¹  in the hollow of his hand,

or carefully ²  measured the sky, ³ 

or carefully weighed ⁴  the soil of the earth,

or weighed the mountains in a balance,

or the hills on scales? ⁵ 

Isaiah 40:15

40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are regarded as dust on the scales.

He lifts ⁶  the coastlands ⁷  as if they were dust.

[40:12]  ¹ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.

[40:12]  ² tn Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת).

[40:12]  ³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[40:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”

[40:12]  ⁵ sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions of v. 12 is “no one but the Lord. The Lord, and no other, created the world. Like a merchant weighing out silver or commodities on a scale, the Lord established the various components of the physical universe in precise proportions.

[40:15]  ⁶ tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”

[40:15]  ⁷ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).