New English Translation
Isaiah 40:18
18To whom can you compare God? To what image can you liken 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?
- English Standard Version (ESV)To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?
- New King James Version (NKJV)To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
Context of Isaiah 40:18
16Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. 17All the nations are insignificant before him; they are regarded as absolutely nothing. To whom can you compare God? To what image can you liken him? 19A craftsman casts an idol; a metalsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it. 20To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make an idol that will not fall over.
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 40:25“To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?” says the Holy One.
- Isaiah 46:5To whom can you compare and liken me? Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!
- Exodus 8:10He said, “Tomorrow.” And Moses said, “It will be 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 your very self and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
- Exodus 15:11Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you? – majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, working 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 on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.
- Deuteronomy 33:26There is no one like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the sky to help you, on the clouds in majesty.
- 1 Samuel 2:2No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one other than you! There is no rock like our God!
- Job 40:9Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
- Psalms 86:8None can compare to you among the gods, O Lord! Your exploits are incomparable!
- Psalms 89:6For who in the skies can compare to the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings,
- Psalms 113:5Who can compare to the Lord our God, who sits on a high throne?
- Jeremiah 10:6I said, “There is no one like you, Lord. You are great. And you are renowned for your power.
- Micah 7:18There is no other God like you! You forgive sin and pardon the rebellion of those who remain among your people. You do not remain angry forever, but delight in showing loyal love.
- Acts 17:29So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.
- Colossians 1:15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over 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
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