Yesaya 40:18-25

40:18 To whom can you compare God?

To what image can you liken him?

40:19 A craftsman casts ¹  an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

40:20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; ² 

he then seeks a skilled craftsman

to make ³  an idol that will not fall over.

40:21 Do you not know?

Do you not hear?

Has it not been told to you since the very beginning?

Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

40:22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon; ⁴ 

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. ⁵ 

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain, ⁶ 

and spreads it out ⁷  like a pitched tent. ⁸ 

40:23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing;

he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.

40:24 Indeed, they are barely planted;

yes, they are barely sown;

yes, they barely take root in the earth,

and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

40:25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”

says the Holy One. ⁹ 

Yesaya 44:7

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ¹⁰ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ¹¹ 

let them announce future events! ¹² 

Yesaya 46:5

46:5 To whom can you compare and liken me?

Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

Yesaya 46:9

46:9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! ¹³ 

Truly I am God, I have no peer; ¹⁴ 

I am God, and there is none like me,

[40:19]  ¹ tn Heb “pours out”; KJV “melteth.”

[40:20]  ² tn The first two words of the verse (הַמְסֻכָּן תְּרוּמָה, hamsukan tÿrumah) are problematic. Some take מְסֻכָּן as an otherwise unattested Pual participle from סָכַן (sakhan, “be poor”) and translate “the one who is impoverished.” תְּרוּמָה (tÿrumah, “contribution”) can then be taken as an adverbial accusative, “with respect to a contribution,” and the entire line translated, “the one who is too impoverished for such a contribution [i.e., the metal idol of v. 19?] selects wood that will not rot.” However, מְסֻכָּן is probably the name of a tree used in idol manufacturing (cognate with Akkadian musukkanu, cf. H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 133). מְסֻכָּן may be a scribal interpretive addition attempting to specify עֵץ (’ets) or עֵץ may be a scribal attempt to categorize מְסֻכָּן. How an idol constitutes a תְּרוּמָה (“contribution”) is not entirely clear.

[40:20]  ³ tn Or “set up” (ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “to prepare.”

[40:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[40:22]  ⁵ tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[40:22]  ⁶ tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).

[40:22]  ⁷ tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.

[40:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”

[40:25]  ⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[44:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ¹² tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[46:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “remember the former things, from antiquity”; KJV, ASV “the former things of old.”

[46:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and there is no other” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).