Isaiah 40:12
ContextNETBible | Who has measured out the waters 1 in the hollow of his hand, or carefully 2 measured the sky, 3 or carefully weighed 4 the soil of the earth, or weighed the mountains in a balance, or the hills on scales? 5 |
XREF | Job 11:7-9; Job 28:25; Job 38:4-11; Ps 102:25,26; Ps 104:2,3; Pr 8:26-28; Pr 30:4; Isa 48:13; Heb 1:10-12; Re 20:11 |
NET © Notes |
1 tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB. 2 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 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context. 4 tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].” 5 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. |