Isaiah 40:17

17 Before him all the nations are like nothing. He regards them as less than nothing.

Isaiah 40:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 40:17

All nations before him are as nothing
As if they were nonentities, and were not real beings in comparison of him, who is the Being of beings, the author of all beings which exist in all nations; who are all in his sight, and are not only as grasshoppers, as is after mentioned, but even as nothing: and they are counted to him as less than nothing, and vanity;
if there is or could be such a thing less than nothing, that they are; and so they are accounted of by him; they are like the chaos out of which the earth was formed, when it was "tohu" and "bohu", the first of which words is used here; this serves to humble the pride of men, and to lessen the glory of the nations, and the inhabitants of them.

Isaiah 40:17 In-Context

15 The nations are like a drop in a bucket, they count like a grain of dust on the scales. The islands weigh as little as specks of dust.

16 The L'vanon would not suffice for fuel or its animals be enough for burnt offerings.

17 Before him all the nations are like nothing. He regards them as less than nothing.

18 With whom, then, will you compare God? By what standard will you evaluate him?

19 An image made by a craftsman, which a goldsmith overlays with gold, for which he then casts silver chains?