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The Lord is Incomparable

12 Who has measured out the waters[a] in the hollow of his hand,
or carefully[b] measured the sky,[c]
or carefully weighed[d] the soil of the earth,
or weighed the mountains in a balance,
or the hills on scales?[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 40:12 tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.
  2. Isaiah 40:12 tn Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת).
  3. Isaiah 40:12 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
  4. Isaiah 40:12 tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”
  5. Isaiah 40:12 sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions of v. 12 is, “No one but the Lord.” The Lord, and no other, created the world. Like a merchant weighing out silver or commodities on a scale, the Lord established the various components of the physical universe in precise proportions.

12 Who has measured the waters(A) in the hollow of his hand,(B)
    or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?(C)
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
    or weighed the mountains on the scales
    and the hills in a balance?(D)

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