17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
17 All the nations add up to simply nothing before him - less than nothing is more like it. A minus.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
17 The nations of the world are worth nothing to him. In his eyes they count for less than nothing- mere emptiness and froth.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 40:17
Commentary on Isaiah 40:12-17
(Read Isaiah 40:12-17)
All created beings shrink to nothing in comparison with the Creator. When the Lord, by his Spirit, made the world, none directed his Spirit, or gave advice what to do, or how to do it. The nations, in comparison of him, are as a drop which remains in the bucket, compared with the vast ocean; or as the small dust in the balance, which does not turn it, compared with all the earth. This magnifies God's love to the world, that, though it is of such small account and value with him, yet, for the redemption of it, he gave his only-begotten Son, John 3:16. The services of the church can make no addition to him. Our souls must have perished for ever, if the only Son of the Father had not given himself for us.