isaiah 40:15

Isaiah 40:15

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.

a. NASB 2020: 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.  [NASB20] New American Standard Bible. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation; All Rights Reserved]

b. YLT:  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. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are counted as small dust on the scales; behold, He takes up the isles like a very little thing.   [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. The Milstein Edition, Later Prophets, Isaiah. With Rabbinic Commentary: behold, all the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are reckoned like the dust rubbing off a scale; behold, he will cast away the islands like dust.  [THE ARTSCROLL SERIES\MILSTEIN EDITION THE LATTER PROPHETS, ISAIAH Ⓒ Copyright 2013 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ltd.]

e. ESV: 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.  [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

1. “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.

a. Behold [Strong: 2005 hên, hane; a primitive particle; lo!; also (as expressing surprise) if:—behold, if, lo, though.]

b. [the] nations [Strong: 1471 gôwy, go'-ee; rarely (shortened) גֹּי gôy; apparently from the same root as H1465 (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts:—Gentile, heathen, nation, people.]

c. [are as a] drop [Strong: 4752 mar, mar; from H4843 in its original sense of distillation; a drop:—drop.]

d. [of a] bucket [Strong: 1805 dᵉlîy, del-ee'; or דֳּלִי dŏlîy; from H1802; a pail or jar (for drawing water):—bucket.]

e. [and are] counted [Strong: 2803 châshab, khaw-shab'; a primitive root; properly, to plait or interpenetrate, i.e. (literally) to weave or (generally) to fabricate; figuratively, to plot or contrive (usually in a malicious sense); hence (from the mental effort) to think, regard, value, compute:—(make) account (of), conceive, consider, count, cunning (man, work, workman), devise, esteem, find out, forecast, hold, imagine, impute, invent, be like, mean, purpose, reckon(-ing be made), regard, think.]

f. [as the] small dust [Strong: 7834 shachaq, shakh'-ak; from H7833; a powder (as beaten small); by analogy, a thin vapor; by extension, the firmament:—cloud, small dust, heaven, sky.]

g. [of a] balance [Strong: 3976 môʼzên, mo-zane'; from H239; (only in the dual) a pair of scales:—balances.]

h. behold [Strong: 2005 hên, hane; a primitive particle; lo!; also (as expressing surprise) if:—behold, if, lo, though.]

i. [he] taketh up [Strong: 5190 nâṭal, naw-tal'; a primitive root; to lift; by implication, to impose:—bear, offer, take up.]

j. [the] isles [Strong: 339 ʼîy, ee; from H183; properly, a habitable spot (as desirable); dry land, a coast, an island:—country, isle, island.]

k. [as a very] little thing [Strong: 1851 daq, dak; from H1854; crushed, i.e. (by implication) small or thin:—dwarf, lean(-fleshed), very little thing, small, thin.]

1). Institute of Creation Research, Days of Praise:1/30/2012 God has a divine purpose for nations, as shown by the fact that there will even be "nations of them which are saved" (Revelation 21:24) in the new earth, outside the New Jerusalem. Nations were evidently first established after the dispersion at Babel when God forced the original post-Flood families to separate and to establish their own distinctive communities by confusing their languages (Genesis 11:9).  It thus has been natural and useful (in God's economy) for each nation to develop a sense of national pride and patriotic loyalty.  However, this has often been corrupted into militant expansionism or ethnic idolatry, and God has eventually had to put them down.  Nations need to remember that they are really "a very little thing" in God's sight, as a drop in a bucket or the fine dust on a scale.  He "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" (Acts 17:26).  Job testified back in the early days of the world's nations:  "He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again" (Job 12:23).   No matter how powerful and self-reliant (or how weak and dependent) a nation may seem to be, "the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations" (Psalm 22:28).  Therefore, if a nation desires that its "time before appointed" be long and fruitful, and "the bounds of its habitation" be the optimum for its divine mission, it must be careful to honor and serve the true God of heaven, for "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God," while "blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD" (Psalm 9:17; 33:12). HMM

2). Isaiah 40:12, 13 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

3). Proverbs 3:19, 20 The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.