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Selected Verse: Isaiah 40:17 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Isa 40:17 |
King James |
All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
(Psa 62:9; Dan 4:35).
less than nothing--MAURER translates, as in Isa 41:24, "of nothing" (partitively; or expressive of the nature of a thing), a mere nothing.
vanity--emptiness. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
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.' |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
| From the obverse of the thought in Isa 40:15 the prophet returns to the thought itself, and dwells upon it still further. "All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are regarded by Him as belonging to nullity and emptiness." 'Ephes is the end at which a thing ceases, and in an absolute sense that at which all being ceases, hence non-existence or nullity. Tōhū (from tâhâh, related to shâ'âh; vid., Comm. on Job, at Job 37:6), a horrible desolation, like the chaos of creation, where there is nothing definite, and therefore as good as nothing at all; min is hardly comparative in the sense of "more nothing than nothing itself" (Like Job 11:17, where "brighter" is to be supplied, or Mic 7:4, where "sharper" is similarly required), but is used in the same partitive sense as in Isa 41:24 (cf., Isa 44:11 and Psa 62:10). |
24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
17 And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.