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Isaiah 40:22-24
New English Translation
Isaiah 40:22-24
New English Translation
22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon;[a]
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him.[b]
He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain,[c]
and spreads it out[d] like a pitched tent.[e]
23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing;
he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.
24 Indeed, they are barely planted;
yes, they are barely sown;
yes, they barely take root in the earth,
and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,
and the wind carries them away like straw.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 40:22 tn Heb “the circle of the earth” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
- Isaiah 40:22 tn The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Isaiah 40:22 tn The otherwise unattested noun דֹּק (doq), translated here “thin curtain,” is apparently derived from the verbal root דקק (“crush”) from which is derived the adjective דַּק (daq, “thin”; see HALOT 229 s.v. דקק). The nuance “curtain” is implied from the parallelism (see “tent” in the next line).
- Isaiah 40:22 tn The meaning of the otherwise unattested verb מָתַח (matakh, “spread out”) is determined from the parallelism (note the corresponding verb “stretch out” in the previous line) and supported by later Hebrew and Aramaic cognates. See HALOT 654 s.v. *מתה.
- Isaiah 40:22 tn Heb “like a tent [in which] to live”; NAB, NASB “like a tent to dwell (live NIV, NRSV) in.”
Isaiah 40:22-24
New International Version
Isaiah 40:22-24
New International Version
22 He sits enthroned(A) above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.(B)
He stretches out the heavens(C) like a canopy,(D)
and spreads them out like a tent(E) to live in.(F)
23 He brings princes(G) to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.(H)
24 No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root(I) in the ground,
than he blows(J) on them and they wither,(K)
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.(L)
New English Translation (NET)
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