English Standard Version
Isaiah 40:18
18To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?
Isaiah 40:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
- New International Version (NIV)With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him?
- New King James Version (NKJV)To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
- New Living Translation (NLT)To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him?
Context of Isaiah 40:18
16Lebanon 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. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.
Read all of Isaiah 40Isaiah 40:18 word by word
וְאֶל־מִ֖י תְּדַמְּי֣וּן אֵ֑ל וּמַה־דְּמ֖וּת תַּ֥עַרְכוּ לֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 40:18
- Isaiah 40:25To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
- Isaiah 46:5"To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?
- Exodus 8:10And he said, "Tomorrow." Moses said, "Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.
- Exodus 9:14For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
- Exodus 15:11"Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
- Exodus 20:4"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
- Deuteronomy 33:26"There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty.
- 1 Samuel 2:2"There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.
- Job 40:9Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
- Psalms 86:8There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
- Psalms 89:6For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
- Psalms 113:5Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high,
- Jeremiah 10:6There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.
- Micah 7:18Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
- Acts 17:29Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
- Colossians 1:15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Commentaries on Isaiah 40:18
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18To whom then will ye liken God? - Since he is so great, what can resemble him? What form can be made like him? The main idea here intended to be conveyed by the prophet evidently is, that God is great and glorious, and worthy of the confidence of his people. This idea he illustrates by a reference to the attempts which had been made to make a representation of him, and by showing how vain those efforts were. He therefore states the mode in which the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-26Verses 18-26 Whatever we esteem or love, fear or hope in, more than God, that creature we make equal with God, though we do not make images or worship them. He that is so poor, that he has scarcely a sacrifice to offer, yet will not be without a god of his own. They spared no cost upon their idols; we grudge what is spent in the service of our God. To prove the greatness of God, the prophet appeals to all ages and nations. Those who are ignorant of this…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18To whom … what image: Earlier in the book, Isaiah showed that idolatry is foolish and empty (Isaiah 16:12; 37:16–19). Isaiah 40–48, he gives a much longer argument against it. An idol is an object that people make to represent a god or a religious idea. But these objects are made by human hands. Those who worship them do not see that they are only things people have made. Idols have no power (Isaiah 41:7, 22–24; 48:14). They give people a false feeling of…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. Which of the heathen idols, then, is to be compared to this Almighty God? This passage, if not written (as Barnes thinks) so late as the idolatrous times of Manasseh, has at least a prospective warning reference to them and subsequent reigns; the result of the chastisement of Jewish idolatry in the Babylonish captivity was that thenceforth after the restoration the Jews never fell into it. Perhaps these prophecies here may have tended to that result…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 40:18
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries