New International Version
Isaiah 40:18
18With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will 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?
- 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?
- New Living Translation (NLT)To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him?
Context of Isaiah 40:18
16Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. 17Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. With whom, then, will you compare God? To what image will you liken him? 19As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. 20A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple.
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 will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
- Isaiah 46:5“With whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?
- Exodus 8:10“Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said. Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God.
- Exodus 9:14or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
- Exodus 15:11Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
- Exodus 20:4“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
- Deuteronomy 33:26“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty.
- 1 Samuel 2:2“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
- Job 40:9Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?
- Psalms 86:8Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
- Psalms 89:6For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?
- Psalms 113:5Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
- Jeremiah 10:6No one is like you, Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power.
- Micah 7:18Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
- Acts 17:29“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.
- Colossians 1:15The Son 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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