King James Version KJV
New International Version NIV
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
16
Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
17
Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
18
With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him?
19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
19
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.
20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
20
A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple.
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
21
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
23
He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
24
No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
25
“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.