All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
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.
- BSB All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
- 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 62:9Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
- Dan 4:34–35At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation.
- Isa 29:7The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
- 2 Cor 12:11I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for in nothing was I inferior to the very best apostles, though I am nothing.
- Job 25:6How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is a worm!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.