Isaiah 40:17

Isa 40:17 All nations before him [are] as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

Ver. 17. All nations before him are as nothing.] Agnosce ergo virium tuarum ουδενειαν. See therefore thine own nothingness, and learn to vilify, yea, to nullify thyself before God, as Agur, {Pro 30:2} and as David, who was a worm and no man {Psa 22:6} Reiectamentum hominis et nullificamen populi, {a}

{a} Tertul.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

40:17 The nations, including their leaders (40:23), pagan structures (41:24, 29; 44:9-11), and all enemies of God’s people (41:11-12), are worth nothing apart from God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He speaketh all this to the intent that they should neither fear man nor put their trust in any, save only in God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(Psa 62:9; Dan 4:35).

less than nothing--MAURER translates, as in Isa 41:24, "of nothing" (partitively; or expressive of the nature of a thing), a mere nothing.

vanity--emptiness.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(17) Less than nothing.—Literally, as things of nought.

Vanity.—Once more the tohu, or chaos, of Gen_1:2—one of Isaiah’s favourite phrases (Isa_24:10; Isa_29:21; Isa_34:11).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. less than nothing] Better: of nought; “belonging to the category of nothingness” (Cheyne).

vanity] The Hebr. is tôhû, a word which means primarily “a waste,” and is applied in Gen_1:2 to the primeval chaos (A.V. “without form”). See on ch. Isa_29:21, Isa_34:11. Here and in many other cases it is a synonym for nonentity.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Are as nothing - This expresses literally what had been expressed by the beautiful and striking imagery above.

Less than nothing - A strong hyperbolic expression denoting the utter insignificance of the nations as compared with God. Such expressions are common in the Scriptures.

And vanity - Hebrew, תהו tôhû - ‘Emptiness;’ the word which in Gen 1:2 is rendered ‘without form.’

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Before him; either in his eyes, or being set against him, as this Hebrew word properly and most usually signifies.

Counted to him, either in his judgment, or in comparison of him.

Less than nothing; less than a thing of nought, or of no account or worth; or, as others render it, for nothing.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. All nations… are as nothing — The thought of Isa_40:15 is resumed. In weighing comparisons of such a Being all nations of the earth “are as nothing.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All nations; rather, all the nations; i.e. all the nations of the earth put together. In ver. 15 single "nations" had been declared to be of no account; now the same is said of all the nations of the earth collectively. They are accounted of God as ephes, nothingness, and tohu, chaos or confusion.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

From the obverse of the thought in Isa 40:15 the prophet returns to the thought itself, and dwells upon it still further. "All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are regarded by Him as belonging to nullity and emptiness." 'Ephes is the end at which a thing ceases, and in an absolute sense that at which all being ceases, hence non-existence or nullity. Tōhū (from tâhâh, related to shâ'âh; vid., Comm. on Job, at Job 37:6), a horrible desolation, like the chaos of creation, where there is nothing definite, and therefore as good as nothing at all; min is hardly comparative in the sense of "more nothing than nothing itself" (Like Job 11:17, where "brighter" is to be supplied, or Mic 7:4, where "sharper" is similarly required), but is used in the same partitive sense as in Isa 41:24 (cf., Isa 44:11 and Psa 62:10).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

“All the nations as nothing before Him, less than nothing and vanity are counted to Him.” The proposition of v. 15 is repeated, but in still more absolute and universal terms. Instead of ‘nations’, He says ‘all the nations’; instead of likening them to grains of sand or drops of water, He denies their very being. ‘Before Him’ does not simply mean in His view or estimation, but in comparison with Him. So too the parallel expression does not mean ‘by Him’, but ‘with respect to Him’, or simply ‘to Him’ in the same sense as when we say that one thing or person is nothing to another, (i.e., not to be compared with it). The same use of to, even without a negative, is clear from such expressions as "Hyperion to a Satyr." That God is the arbiter who thus decides between Himself and His creatures, is still implied in both the phrases, although not the sole or even prominent idea meant to be expressed by either. The verse contains the strongest possible expression of insignificance and even non-existence, as predicable even of whole nations, in comparison with God, and in His presence.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All the nations are as naught before Him In His eyes they are as naught, and are not regarded by Him.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

All nations, etc. All divisions of nature are reviewed by the prophet; viz. first the nations (ver. 15), that is, man, and then (ver. 16) plants and beasts.—The meaning of this verse is: since all is as nothing before Him, etc.

מאפס Less than nothing. The מ denotes here the same as in מהבל lighter than vanity (Ps. Ixii. 10).—It is surprising how the Gaon could place men above angels, he must certainly have read this chapter.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.