Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Parallel translations
- WEB Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.
- KJV Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
- NKJV Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.
- NASB Raise your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who brings out their multitude by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.
- NLT Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.
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
Looking at the stars He created and names individually proves God's limitless power, so none is missing.
Overview
God calls Israel to lift their eyes to the heavens: He created the starry host, marshals them like an army, and knows each by name. Such power and attentive knowledge guarantee that He overlooks nothing. This sets up the rebuke of verse 27, where Israel wrongly fears God has forgotten them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Col 1:16–17For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
- Jer 32:17–19“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- Isa 48:13Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
- Isa 51:6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.
- Ps 147:4–5He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.
- Isa 44:24Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,
- Ps 89:11–13The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.
- Deut 4:19When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
- Ps 19:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
- Isa 45:7I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Isa 42:5This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:
- Gen 2:1–2Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
- Job 31:26–28if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
- Ps 148:3–6Praise Him, O sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars.
- Ps 8:3–4When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—
- Isa 34:16Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of these will go missing, not one will lack her mate, because He has ordered it by His mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit.
- Ps 102:25In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Jer 10:11–12Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”
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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 40:26 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
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