Passage

Isaiah 40.25-26

Book: Isaiah · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

23. that bringeth princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. 24. Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.

25. To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. 26. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? 28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. (Isaiah 40:23-28, ASV)

WEB

23. who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless. 24. They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

25. “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One. 26. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?” 28. Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:23-28, WEB)

KJV

23. That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. 24. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

25. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 26. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. (Isaiah 40:23-28, KJV)

YLT

23. He who is making princes become nothing, Judges of earth as emptiness hath made; 24. Yea, they have not been planted, Yea, they have not been sown, Yea, not taking root in the earth is their stock, And also He hath blown upon them, and they wither, And a whirlwind as stubble taketh them away.

25. And unto whom do ye liken Me, And [am] I equal? saith the Holy One. 26. Lift up on high your eyes, And see, who hath prepared these? He who is bringing out by number their host, To all of them by name He calleth, By abundance of strength (And [he is] strong in power) not one is lacking.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob? and speakest thou, O Israel? 'My way hath been hid from Jehovah, And from my God my judgment passeth over.' 28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The God of the age, Jehovah, Preparer of the ends of the earth, Is not wearied nor fatigued, There is no searching of His understanding. (Isaiah 40:23-28, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: The prophet, speaking for God; in verse 25 God speaks in the first person as "the Holy One."
Audience: God's people, addressed as "Jacob" and "Israel" who complain that "My way is hid from Jehovah" (40:27), the people the chapter opens by comforting (40:1).
Location: Judah, with the Babylonian exile in view in the chapters that follow.
Time period: Isaiah's ministry in the eighth century BC; many scholars date chapters 40-55 to the exile in the sixth century, while others hold to Isaiah's authorship. The chapter addresses a people who feel abandoned by God.

Theological reading

"To whom then will ye liken me?" Verse 25 repeats the question of 40:18, "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?", but now God asks it himself, as "the Holy One," the title Isaiah favors for God, usually in its full form "the Holy One of Israel." In 40:18-20 the comparison was with idols that a craftsman must fix in place so they do not topple. Nothing made can be set beside the Maker.

Look up. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these." The answer to the question is pointed at the sky. The verb "created" is bara, the verb of Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The stars are not gods or fates; they are things made. See Natural Theology.

Counted and named. God "bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name." The picture is a commander mustering an army. In Babylon the stars were objects of worship and divination, which Isaiah mocks later: "let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee" (Isaiah 47:13). Israel had been warned not to "lift up thine eyes unto heaven... and worship them" (Deuteronomy 4:19). Here Israel is told to lift its eyes for the opposite reason. Psalm 147:4 says the same: "He counteth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names." See Laws of the Universe as Witness to Design.

"Not one is lacking." The stars appear every night because "by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking." The order of the heavens is credited to God's ongoing power, not to the stars themselves.

The point for the weary. The argument is aimed at the complaint of 40:27, "My way is hid from Jehovah." If God knows every star by name and loses none, he has not lost track of his people. The chapter's answer follows: "The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary" (40:28).

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H1254 - bara, bara, Strong's H1254
H6918 - qadosh, qadosh, Strong's H6918
H6635 - tzevaot, tzevaot, Strong's H6635
H8034 - shem, shem, Strong's H8034

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Pantheism, via Isaiah 40.12-31

Lexicon:

H1254 - bara, via Isaiah 40.26
H6635 - tzevaot, via Isaiah 40.26

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.