All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
Parallel translations
- WEB All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
- KJV All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
- NKJV All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
- NASB All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.
- NLT The nations of the world are worth nothing to him. In his eyes they count for less than nothing— mere emptiness and froth.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Before God, all nations are as nothing, regarded as less than nothing and emptiness.
Overview
The smallness of the nations (v.15) is intensified: collectively they amount to less than nothing in God's sight. Earthly power, however imposing, has no weight against the Almighty. For God's people this is comfort, since no nation can thwart His saving purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
- Dan 4:34–35But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
- Isa 29:7All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,
- 2 Cor 12:11I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
- Job 25:6how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 40:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.