Yǐsaìyàshū 40:22

22 Shén zuò zaì dì qiú dà juān zhī shang , dì shang de jūmín hǎoxiàng huángchóng . tā pū zhāng qióng cāng rú mànzǐ , zhǎn kāi zhū tiān rú kĕ zhù de zhàngpéng .

Yǐsaìyàshū 40:22 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 40:22

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth
Or, "the globe ^F26" of it; for the earth is spherical or globular: not a flat plain, but round, hung as a ball in the air; here Jehovah sits as the Lord and Sovereign; being the Maker of it, he is above it, orders and directs its motion, and governs all things in it: Kimchi rightly observes, that the heavens are the circle of the earth, which is the centre of them, and around which they are; and so it signifies, that the Lord sits or dwells in the heavens, from whence he beholds the children of men: and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;
or "locusts ^F1"; as one upon a very great eminence looking down beholds creatures as exceeding small and little; and if the Israelites were to the "anakim" or giants as grasshoppers, ( Numbers 13:33 ) , much more must puny mortals be such in the sight of God, and in comparison of him; and this may denote, not only the minuteness of men, but what weak, impotent, useless, worthless, and short lived creatures men are: that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain;
alluding to the firmament or expanse made at the creation, and still continued; which is as a curtain to himself, which he draws around himself, he dwelling in the highest heavens, and in light inaccessible to mortals; and which he stretches out as a canopy around this earth, for the use of the inhabitants of it: or, "as a little thing"; or, as a little skin ^F2; and which he stretches out as easily as a man can stretch out that: and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in it;
for himself to dwell in, and so stretches out the heavens like curtains about him; tents being made of such, and often of skins.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (gwx le) "super sphaeram", Pagninus; "globum", Montanus Vatablus; "super orbem telluris", Vitringa.
F1 (Mybgxk) "ut locustae", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Vitringa; "tanquam locustae", Munster; "velut locustae", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F2 (qdk) "velut tenue", Montanus; "tenuissimum", Vatablus; "pellem." Munster; so some in Vatablus; "pellculam", Gataker.

Yǐsaìyàshū 40:22 In-Context

20 Qióngfá xiàn bù qǐ zhèyàng gōngwù de , jiù jiǎnxuǎn bùnéng xiǔ huaì de shùmù , wèi zìjǐ xúnzhǎo qiǎo jiàng , lì qǐ bùnéng yáodòng de ǒuxiàng .

21 Nǐmen qǐbù céng zhīdào ma , nǐmen qǐbù céng tīngjian ma , cóng qǐchū qǐ méiyǒu rén gàosu nǐmen ma , zì cóng lì dì de gēnjī , nǐmen qǐ méiyǒu míngbai ma .

22 Shén zuò zaì dì qiú dà juān zhī shang , dì shang de jūmín hǎoxiàng huángchóng . tā pū zhāng qióng cāng rú mànzǐ , zhǎn kāi zhū tiān rú kĕ zhù de zhàngpéng .

23 Tā shǐ jūnwáng guīyú xū wú , shǐ dì shang de shĕnpàn guān chéngwéi xū kōng .

24 Tāmen shì gāngcái zāi shang , ( gāngcái huò zuò bù céng xià tóng ) gāngcái zhǒng shang , gēn yĕ gāngcái zhá zaì dì lǐ , tā yī chuī zaì qí shang , biàn dōu kū gān , xuán fēng jiāng tāmen chuī qù , xiàng suì jiē yíyàng .