Isaiah 40:22

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
sitteth	הַיֹּשֵׁב֙ hai.yo.Shev	H3427	properly · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
circle	ח֣וּג chug	H2329	a circle · noun, common masculine singular construct
earth	הָאָ֔רֶץ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
inhabitants	וְיֹשְׁבֶ֖יהָ ve.yo.she.Vei.ha	H3427	properly · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
grasshoppers	כַּחֲגָבִ֑ים ka.cha.ga.Vim	H2284	a locust · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
out	הַנּוֹטֶ֤ה ha.no.Teh	H5186	to stretch or spread out · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
heavens	שָׁמַ֔יִם sha.Ma.yim	H8064	the sky (as aloft · noun, common masculine plural absolute
curtain	כַדֹּק֙ kha.Dok	H1852	something crumbling · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
out	וַיִּמְתָּחֵ֥ם vai.yim.ta.Chem	H4969	to stretch out · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
tent	כָּאֹ֖הֶל ka.'O.hel	H168	a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
in	לָשָֽׁבֶת la.Sha.vet	H3427	properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
Psalms 104:2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
Isaiah 42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of i…
Isaiah 66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the plac…
Job 22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
Jeremiah 10:12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in the…
Job 9:8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:18-26

The prophet here reproves those, 1. Who represented God by creatures, and so changed his truth into a lie and his glory into shame, who made images and then said that they resembled God, and paid their homage to them accordingly. 2. Who put creatures in the place of God, who feared them more than God, as if they were a match for him, or loved them more than God, as if they were fit to be rivals with him. Twice the challenge is here made, To whom will you liken God? Isa 40:18, and again Isa 40:25. The Holy One himself says, To whom will you liken me? This shows the folly and absurdity, (1.) Of corporal idolatry, making visible images of him who is invisible, imagining the image to be animated…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 40:22

It is he--rather, connected with last verse, "Have ye not known?"--have ye not understood Him that sitteth . . .? (Isa 40:26) [MAURER]. circle--applicable to the globular form of the earth, above which, and the vault of sky around it, He sits. For "upon" translate "above." as grasshoppers--or locusts in His sight (Num 13:33), as He looks down from on high (Psa 33:13-14; Psa 113:4-6). curtain--referring to the awning which the Orientals draw over the open court in the center of their houses as a shelter in rain or hot weather.

John Gill on Isaiah 40:22

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,.... Or, "the globe (z)" of it; for the earth is spherical or globular: not a flat plain, but round, hung as a ball in the air; here Jehovah sits as the Lord and Sovereign; being the Maker of it, he is above it, orders and directs its motion, and governs all things in it: Kimchi rightly observes, that the heavens are the circle of the earth, which is the centre of them, and around which they are; and so it signifies, that the Lord sits or dwells in the heavens, from whence he beholds the children of men: and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; or "locusts (a)"; as one upon a very great eminence looking down beholds creatures as exc…

Read the whole note in the console

The Church Fathers

For, contending against the divine words, which say: He that established the heaven as a vault, these most superior persons cry out in opposition and say: "It is not so, for it is spherical, and this is manifest from the eclipses which we have already adduced."
— Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 12

He made therefore the heaven, not a sphere, as those vain babblers conceive—for He did not make a rolling sphere, but, as the prophet says: Who hath made the heaven as a vaulted chamber and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in; for none of us is so impious as to be persuaded by these triflers, and not by the words of the Prophet, which declare that the heaven has a beginning and an end.
— Cosmas Indicopleustes ((quoting Severianus of Gabala, Hexaemeron)), The Christian Topography, Book 10

"He that stretches out the heavens as a vaulted ceiling." These same thoughts, let us also recommend to ourselves concerning the earth, not to be curious about what its substance is; or to wear ourselves out by reasoning, seeking its very foundation; or to search for some nature destitute of qualities, existing without quality of itself; but to realize well that all that is seen around it is related to the reason of its existence, forming an essential part of its substance.
— Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE HEXAMERON 1:8

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Curtain — (1.) Ten curtains, each twenty-eight cubits long and four wide, made of fine linen, also eleven made of goat’s hair, covered the tabernacle (Ex. 26:1-13; 36:8-17). (2.) The sacred curtain, separating…
Earth — (1.) In the sense of soil or ground, the translation of the word adamah’. In Gen. 9:20 “husbandman” is literally “man of the ground or earth.” Altars were to be built of earth (Ex. 20:24). Naaman…
Grasshopper — Belongs to the class of neuropterous insects called Gryllidae. This insect is not unknown in Palestine. In Judg. 6:5; 7:12; Job 39:30; Jer. 46:23, where the Authorized Version has “grasshopper,” the…
Isaiah, The Book of — Consists of prophecies delivered (Isa. 1) in the reign of Uzziah (1-5), (2) of Jotham (6), (3) Ahaz (7-14:28), (4) the first half of Hezekiah’s reign (14:28-35), (5) the second half of Hezekiah’s…
Astronomy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Curtains · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Earth · Circle of — Circle of
Tents · Were spread out — Were spread out

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Isaiah 40:22

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:18-26

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 40:22

John Gill on Isaiah 40:22

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 40:22

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:18-26

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 40:22

John Gill on Isaiah 40:22

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 40:22

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 40:22

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 40:22

Rashi on Isaiah 40:22