Isaiah 40:15
New International Version
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

New Living Translation
No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.

English Standard Version
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Berean Standard Bible
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.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
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.

New American Standard Bible
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

NASB 1995
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

NASB 1977
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are counted as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the coastlands like fine dust.

Amplified Bible
In fact, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Now look, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

Christian Standard Bible
Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; he lifts up the islands like fine dust.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

American Standard Version
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Behold, the nations shall be cast off like a drop from a pot and like the tipping of a balance, and the islands like the dust

Brenton Septuagint Translation
since all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, and shall be counted as spittle?

Contemporary English Version
To the LORD, all nations are merely a drop in a bucket or dust on balance scales; all of the islands are but a handful of sand.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and are considered to be like dust on a scale. The weight of the islands is like fine dust.

Good News Translation
To the LORD the nations are nothing, no more than a drop of water; the distant islands are as light as dust.

International Standard Version
"Look! The nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are reckoned as dust on the scales. Look! He even lifts up the islands like powder!

JPS Tanakh 1917
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, And are counted as the small dust of the balance; Behold the isles are as a mote in weight.

Literal Standard Version
Behold, nations [are] as a drop from a bucket, | And have been reckoned as small dust of the balance, | Behold, He takes up islands as a small thing.

Majority Standard Bible
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.

New American Bible
See, the nations count as a drop in the bucket, as a wisp of cloud on the scales; the coastlands weigh no more than a speck.

NET Bible
Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales. He lifts the coastlands as if they were dust.

New Revised Standard Version
Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.

New Heart English Bible
Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Look, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, nations as a drop from a bucket, And as small dust of the balance, have been reckoned, Lo, isles as a small thing He taketh up.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Here is Your God!
14Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding? 15Surely 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. 16Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.…

Cross References
Psalm 62:9
Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

Isaiah 2:22
Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

Isaiah 17:13
The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.

Isaiah 29:5
But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

Jeremiah 10:10
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.

Daniel 4:35
All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'"


Treasury of Scripture

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.

the nations

Isaiah 38:22
Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?

Job 34:14,15
If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; …

Jeremiah 10:10
But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

the isles

Isaiah 11:11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

Isaiah 41:5
The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.

Isaiah 59:18
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.

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Accounted Balance Counted Drop Dust Esteemed Fine Islands Isles Lifts Mote Nations Reckoned Regarded Scales Small Speck Surely Weighs Weight
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Accounted Balance Counted Drop Dust Esteemed Fine Islands Isles Lifts Mote Nations Reckoned Regarded Scales Small Speck Surely Weighs Weight
Isaiah 40
1. The promulgation of the Gospel
3. The preaching of John Baptist foretold
9. The preaching of the apostles foretold
12. The prophet, by the omnipotence of God
18. And his incomparableness
26. Comforts the people.














(15) The nations are as a drop . . .--"Nations" and "isles" bring us into the region of human history, as distinct from that of the material world. "Isles" as elsewhere, stands vaguely for far-off lands, or sea-coasts. The word is that of one who looks on the Mediterranean, and thinks of the unexplored regions that lie in it and around. It is one of Isaiah's favourite words in this aspect of its meaning.

A drop of a bucket.--Better, on a bucket. Such a drop adds nothing to the weight which the bearer feels; as little do the nations and the isles to the burden which Jehovah bears. The "small dust in the balance" presents another illustration of the same idea.

Verse 15. - Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket. "From nature," as Mr. Cheyne says, "we pass to history." If God is so great, so apart and by himself in relation to the material universe, what is he in relation to man? What are nations, compared to him, but "as a drop from a bucket," which drips from it, and is of no account? What are they, but as the small dust of the balance, which lies on it but does not disturb its equilibrium? They are absolutely "as nothing" (ver. 17) - vanity and emptiness, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing; literally, he taketh up islands, or perhaps lands generally. As he weighs mountains and hills in his balance (ver. 15), so he can take up in his own hands "lands," or "countries" (Cheyne), with all their inhabitants, and do with them as seemeth him good. They are no burden to him.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Surely
הֵ֤ן (hên)
Interjection
Strong's 2005: Lo! behold!

the nations
גּוֹיִם֙ (gō·w·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

are like a drop
כְּמַ֣ר (kə·mar)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4752: A drop

in a bucket;
מִדְּלִ֔י (mid·də·lî)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1805: A pail, jar

they are considered
נֶחְשָׁ֑בוּ (neḥ·šā·ḇū)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 2803: To think, account

a speck of dust
וּכְשַׁ֥חַק (ū·ḵə·ša·ḥaq)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 7834: A powder, a thin vapor, the firmament

on the scales;
מֹאזְנַ֖יִם (mō·zə·na·yim)
Noun - md
Strong's 3976: A pair of scales

He lifts up
יִטּֽוֹל׃ (yiṭ·ṭō·wl)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5190: To lift, to impose

the islands
אִיִּ֖ים (’î·yîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 339: A habitable spot, dry land, a coast, an island

like fine dust.
כַּדַּ֥ק (kad·daq)
Preposition-k, Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 1851: Crushed, small, thin


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 40:15 Behold the nations are like a drop (Isa Isi Is)
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