Isaiah 40:15
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Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
From His exaltation as Creator, the prophet now proceeds to His exaltation as Governor of the world. "Behold, nations like a little drop on a bucket, and like a grain of sand in a balance, are they esteemed; behold, islands like an atom of dust that rises in the air." Upon Jehovah, the King of the world, does the burden rest of ruling over the whole human race, which is split up into different nations; but the great masses of people over whom Jehovah rules are no more burden to Him than a drop hanging upon a bucket is a burden to the man who carries it (min is used in the same sense as in Sol 4:1; Sol 6:5), no more than the weight in a balance is perceptibly increased or diminished by a grain of sand that happens to lie upon it (shachaq, from shâchaq, to grind to powder). The islands, those fragments of firm ground in the midst of the ocean (אי = ivy, from אוה, to betake one's self to a place, and remain there), upon which the heathen world was dispersed (Gen 10), are to Him who carries the universe like the small particle of dust (דּק from דּקק, to crush or pulverize), which is lifted up, viz., by the slightest breath of wind (יטּול metaplastic fut. niph. of tūl = nâtal, cf., Isa 63:9). The rendering of Knobel, "dust which is thrown," would require עפר (Isa 41:2); and neither that of Gesenius, viz., "He takes up islands like a particle of dust," nor that of Hitzig, "He carries islands," etc., is admissible, for טוּל = נטל signifies tollere, not portare; and the former, viz., insulas tollit, furnishes no answer to the question, "How so, and to what end?"
Open source ↗40:15 God is sovereign over all the nations of the world and over their human power structures. In comparison to God, they are almost nothing. This included the Babylonian Empire, which was merely a tool in God’s hand. • whole earth: Literally coastlands or islands.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
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But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward.
Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many of them. But a commander will put an end to his reproach and will turn it back upon him.
I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.
The LORD will be terrifying to them when He starves all the gods of the earth. Then the nations of every shore will bow in worship to Him, each in its own place.
So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands.