Holman Christian Standard Bible CSB
New International Version NIV
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are considered by Him as nothingness and emptiness.
17
Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
18 Who will you compare God with? What likeness will you compare Him to?
18
With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him?
19 To an idol?-[something that] a smelter casts, and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver welds [for it]?
19
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.
20 To one who shapes a pedestal, choosing wood that does not rot? He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.
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 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered 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 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live 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 He reduces princes to nothing and makes the judges of the earth to be irrational.
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He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
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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 "Who will you compare Me to, or who is My equal?" asks the Holy One.
25
“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Look up and see: who created these? He brings out the starry host by number; He calls all of them by name. Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing.
26
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
27 Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert: "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my claim is ignored by my God"?
27
Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.