English Standard Version
Isaiah 40:16
16Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
Isaiah 40:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
- New International Version (NIV)Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
- New King James Version (NKJV)And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
- New Living Translation (NLT)All the wood in Lebanon’s forests and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.
Context of Isaiah 40:16
14Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?
Read all of Isaiah 40Isaiah 40:16 word by word
וּלְבָנ֕וֹן אֵ֥ין דֵּ֖י בָּעֵ֑ר וְחַיָּת֔וֹ אֵ֥ין דֵּ֖י עוֹלָֽה׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 40:16
- Psalms 40:6In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
- Psalms 60:10Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
- Micah 6:6"With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
- Hebrews 10:5Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
Commentaries on Isaiah 40:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16And Lebanon is not sufficient - The image is beautiful and uncommon. It has been imitated by an apocryphal writer, who however comes far short of the original: - "For all sacrifice is too little for a sweet savor unto thee: And all the fat is not sufficient for thy burnt-offering." Judith 16:16. Does not the prophet mean here that all the burnt-offerings and sacrifices that could be offered were insufficient to atone for sin? That the nations were as…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16And Lebanon - The expression here refers to the trees or the cedars of Lebanon. Thus it is rendered by the Chaldee: And the trees of Lebanon.‘ For a description of Lebanon, see the note at Isaiah 10:34. It is probable that the word Lebanon here is not used in the limited sense in which it is sometimes employed, to denote a single mountain, or a single range of mountains, but includes the entire ranges lying north of Palestine, and which were comprehended…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-17Verses 12-17 All created beings shrink to nothing in comparison with the Creator. When the Lord, by his Spirit, made the world, none directed his Spirit, or gave advice what to do, or how to do it. The nations, in comparison of him, are as a drop which remains in the bucket, compared with the vast ocean; or as the small dust in the balance, which does not turn it, compared with all the earth. This magnifies God's love to the world, that, though it is of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16People valued Lebanon for its plentiful wood and wildlife (see Isaiah 2:13–16; Psalm 104:16–17).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. All Lebanon's forest would not supply fuel enough to burn sacrifices worthy of the glory of God (Is 66:1; 1Ki 8:27; Psa 50:8-13). beasts--which abounded in Lebanon.Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 40:16
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 40
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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