Isaiah 40:12-20

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 

40:13 Who comprehends ⁶  the mind ⁷  of the Lord,

or gives him instruction as his counselor? ⁸ 

40:14 From whom does he receive directions? ⁹ 

Who ¹⁰  teaches him the correct way to do things, ¹¹ 

or imparts knowledge to him,

or instructs him in skillful design? ¹² 

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

they are regarded as dust on the scales.

He lifts ¹³  the coastlands ¹⁴  as if they were dust.

40:16 Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; ¹⁵ 

its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. ¹⁶ 

40:17 All the nations are insignificant before him;

they are regarded as absolutely nothing. ¹⁷ 

40:18 To whom can you compare God?

To what image can you liken him?

40:19 A craftsman casts ¹⁸  an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

40:20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; ¹⁹ 

he then seeks a skilled craftsman

to make ²⁰  an idol that will not fall over.

[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.

[40:13]  ⁶ tn Perhaps the verb is used metonymically here in the sense of “advises” (note the following line).

[40:13]  ⁷ tn In this context רוּחַ (ruakh) likely refers to the Lord’s “mind,” or mental faculties, rather than his personal Spirit (see BDB 925 s.v.).

[40:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “or [as] the man of his counsel causes him to know?”

[40:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “With whom did he consult, so that he gave discernment to him?”

[40:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and taught him.” The vav (ו) consecutive with prefixed verbal form continues the previous line. The translation employs an interrogative pronoun for stylistic reasons.

[40:14]  ¹¹ tn The phrase אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּט (’orakh mishpat) could be translated “path of justice” (so NASB, NRSV), but in this context, where creative ability and skill is in view, the phrase is better understood in the sense of “the way that is proper or fitting” (see BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6); cf. NIV, NCV “the right way.”

[40:14]  ¹² tn Heb “or the way of understanding causes him to know?”

[40:15]  ¹³ tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”

[40:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).

[40:16]  ¹⁵ tn The words “for a sacrifice” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:16]  ¹⁶ sn The point is that not even the Lebanon forest could supply enough wood and animals for an adequate sacrifice to the Lord.

[40:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[as derived] from nothing and unformed.”

[40:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “pours out”; KJV “melteth.”

[40:20]  ¹⁹ tn The first two words of the verse (הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה, hamsukan tÿrumah) are problematic. Some take מְסֻכָּן as an otherwise unattested Pual participle from סָכַן (sakhan, “be poor”) and translate “the one who is impoverished.” תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah, “contribution”) can then be taken as an adverbial accusative, “with respect to a contribution,” and the entire line translated, “the one who is too impoverished for such a contribution [i.e., the metal idol of v. 19?] selects wood that will not rot.” However, מְסֻכָּן is probably the name of a tree used in idol manufacturing (cognate with Akkadian musukkanu, cf. H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 133). מְסֻכָּן may be a scribal interpretive addition attempting to specify עֵץ (’ets) or עֵץ may be a scribal attempt to categorize מְסֻכָּן. How an idol constitutes a תְּרוּמָה (“contribution”) is not entirely clear.

[40:20]  ²⁰ tn Or “set up” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “to prepare.”