Font Size
Isaiah 40:26-28
New English Translation
Isaiah 40:26-28
New English Translation
26 Look up at the sky![a]
Who created all these heavenly lights?[b]
He is the one who leads out their ranks;[c]
he calls them all by name.
Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,
not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you say, Jacob,
Why do you say, Israel,
“The Lord is not aware of what is happening to me;[d]
My God is not concerned with my vindication”?[e]
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is an eternal God,
the Creator of the whole earth.[f]
He does not get tired or weary;
there is no limit to his wisdom.[g]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 40:26 tn Heb “Lift on high your eyes and see.”
- Isaiah 40:26 tn The words “heavenly lights” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the following lines.
- Isaiah 40:26 tn Heb “the one who brings out by number their host.” The stars are here likened to a huge army that the Lord leads out. Perhaps the next line pictures God calling roll. If so, the final line may be indicating that none of them dares “go AWOL.” (“AWOL” is a military acronym for “absent without leave.”)
- Isaiah 40:27 tn Heb “my way is hidden from the Lord” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 40:27 tn Heb “and from my God my justice passes away”; NRSV “my right is disregarded by my God.”
- Isaiah 40:28 tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.
- Isaiah 40:28 sn Exiled Israel’s complaint (v. 27) implies that God might be limited in some way. Perhaps he, like so many of the pagan gods, has died. Or perhaps his jurisdiction is limited to Judah and does not include Babylon. Maybe he is unable to devise an adequate plan to rescue his people, or is unable to execute it. But v. 28 affirms that he is not limited temporally or spatially nor are his power and wisdom restricted in any way. He can and will deliver his people, if they respond in hopeful faith (v. 31a).
Isaiah 40:26-28
New International Version
Isaiah 40:26-28
New International Version
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:(A)
Who created(B) all these?
He who brings out the starry host(C) one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,(D)
not one of them is missing.(E)
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?(F)
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?(G)
The Lord is the everlasting(H) God,
the Creator(I) of the ends of the earth.(J)
He will not grow tired or weary,(K)
and his understanding no one can fathom.(L)
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.