Isaiah 40:12-24

New King James Version

^12 (A)Who has measured the ^[a]waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a ^[b]span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
^13 (B)Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
¹⁴ With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And ^(C)taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All nations before Him are as ^(D)nothing,
And ^(E)they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

¹⁸ To whom then will you ^(F)liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
^19 (G)The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
²⁰ Whoever is too impoverished for such ^[c]a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
^(H)To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

^21 (I)Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who ^(J)stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a ^(K)tent to dwell in.
²³ He ^[d]brings the ^(L)princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

²⁴ Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.