Isa 40:15, 17 | JFB | STEP | 15. of —rather, (hanging) from a bucket [MAURER ]. he taketh up . . . as a very little thing —rather, "are as a mere grain of dust which is taken up," namely, by the wind; literally, "one taketh up," impersonally ( ) [MAURER ]. isles —rather, " lands " in general, answering to "the nations" in the parallel clause; perhaps lands, like Mesopotamia, enclosed by rivers [JEROME ] (so ). However, English Version, "isles" answers well to "mountains" ( ), both alike being lifted up by the power of God; in fact, "isles" are mountains upheaved from the bed of the sea by volcanic agency; only that he seems here to have passed from unintelligent creatures ( ) to intelligent, as nations and lands, that is, their inhabitants.

Isaiah 40:15

15. of—rather, (hanging) from a bucket [MAURER].

he taketh up . . . as a very little thing—rather, "are as a mere grain of dust which is taken up," namely, by the wind; literally, "one taketh up," impersonally (Ex 16:14) [MAURER].

isles—rather, "lands" in general, answering to "the nations" in the parallel clause; perhaps lands, like Mesopotamia, enclosed by rivers [JEROME] (so Isa 42:15). However, English Version, "isles" answers well to "mountains" (Isa 40:12), both alike being lifted up by the power of God; in fact, "isles" are mountains upheaved from the bed of the sea by volcanic agency; only that he seems here to have passed from unintelligent creatures (Isa 40:12) to intelligent, as nations and lands, that is, their inhabitants.

Isaiah 40:17

17. (Ps 62:9; Da 4:35).

less than nothing—MAURER translates, as in Isa 41:24, "of nothing" (partitively; or expressive of the nature of a thing), a mere nothing.

vanity—emptiness.