Isaia 40:22

22 Egli è colui che sta assiso sul globo della terra, e gli abitanti d’essa son per lui come locuste; egli distese i cieli come una cortina, e li spiega come una tenda per abitarvi;

Isaia 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.

Isaia 40:22 In-Context

20 Colui che la povertà costrinse ad offrir poco sceglie un legno che non marcisca, e si procura un abile artista, che metta su un idolo che non si smova.

21 Ma non lo sapete? non l’avete sentito? Non v’è stato annunziato fin dal principio? Non avete riflettuto alla fondazione della terra?

22 Egli è colui che sta assiso sul globo della terra, e gli abitanti d’essa son per lui come locuste; egli distese i cieli come una cortina, e li spiega come una tenda per abitarvi;

23 egli riduce i principi a nulla, e annienta i giudici della terra;

24 appena piantati, appena seminati, appena il loro fusto ha preso radici in terra, Egli vi soffia contro, e quelli seccano, e l’uragano li porta via come stoppia.