Isaiah 40:17

“All nations before him are as nothing, &c.] As if they were nonentities, and were not real beings in comparison of him, who is the Being of beings, the author of all beings which exist in all nations; who are all in his sight, and are not only as grasshoppers, as is after mentioned, but even as nothing: and they are counted to him as less than nothing, and vanity; if there is or could be such a thing less than nothing, that they are; and so they are accounted of by him; they are like the chaos out of which the earth was formed, when it was “tohu” and “bohu”, the first of which words is used here; this serves to humble the pride of men, and to lessen the glory of the nations, and the…”

“(Psa 62:9; Dan 4:35). less than nothing--MAURER translates, as in Isa 41:24, "of nothing" (partitively; or expressive of the nature of a thing), a mere nothing. vanity--emptiness.”

“Are as nothing - This expresses literally what had been expressed by the beautiful and striking imagery above. Less than nothing - A strong hyperbolic expression denoting the utter insignificance of the nations as compared with God. Such expressions are common in the Scriptures. And vanity - Hebrew, תהו tôhû - ‘Emptiness;’ the word which in Genesis 1:2 is rendered ‘without form.’ return to 'Top of Page'”

“40:17 The nations, including their leaders (40:23), pagan structures (41:24, 29; 44:9-11), and all enemies of God’s people (41:11-12), are worth nothing apart from God.”

“as nothing: Job 25:6; Psa 62:9; Dan 4:34, Dan 4:35; Co2 12:11 Isaiah 40:18”

“From the obverse of the thought in Isa 40:15 the prophet returns to the thought itself, and dwells upon it still further. "All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are regarded by Him as belonging to nullity and emptiness." 'Ephes is the end at which a thing ceases, and in an absolute sense that at which all being ceases, hence non-existence or nullity. Tōhū (from tâhâh, related to shâ'âh; vid., Comm. on Job, at Job 37:6), a horrible desolation, like the chaos of creation, where there is nothing definite, and therefore as good as nothing at all; min is hardly comparative in the sense of "more nothing than nothing itself" (Like Job 11:17, where "brighter" is to be supplied, or…”