Isaiah 40:17

17 All the nations [are] like nothing before him; they are counted by him as nothing and emptiness.

Isaiah 40:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 40:17

All nations before him are as nothing
As if they were nonentities, and were not real beings in comparison of him, who is the Being of beings, the author of all beings which exist in all nations; who are all in his sight, and are not only as grasshoppers, as is after mentioned, but even as nothing: and they are counted to him as less than nothing, and vanity;
if there is or could be such a thing less than nothing, that they are; and so they are accounted of by him; they are like the chaos out of which the earth was formed, when it was "tohu" and "bohu", the first of which words is used here; this serves to humble the pride of men, and to lessen the glory of the nations, and the inhabitants of them.

Isaiah 40:17 In-Context

15 Look! [The] nations [are] like a drop from a bucket, and they are counted like dust of [the] balances! Look! He weighs [the] islands like a thin covering.

16 And Lebanon [is] not enough to light a fire, and its animals not enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations [are] like nothing before him; they are counted by him as nothing and emptiness.

18 And to whom will you liken God? And to what likeness will you compare him?

19 A craftsman pours out the idol, and a {goldsmith} overlays it with gold, and [he] smelts chains of silver.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "from"