Bible Strands
Isaiah 40:25
“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel within a discourse contrasting the fleeting power of human rulers with His sovereign control over creation. He speaks at the moment the hearers might be tempted to measure Him against earthly powers or crafted images.
The words — The verb תְדַמּוּנִי (dədaḏmūnî) translates literally as "you will liken [Me]" and אֶשְׁוֶה (ešweh) means "I may be equal." These terms frame the verse as a direct challenge to comparative theology.
The thread — The identical rhetorical question appears in Isaiah 40:18, while Deuteronomy 4:15 and 4:33 record the principle that God revealed Himself without a visible form and spoke from fire. This sequence establishes a consistent biblical boundary against reducing the divine to created categories.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to stop measuring God against created standards and acknowledge that no entity matches His nature or power. It demands the abandonment of comparative frameworks in favor of recognizing divine uniqueness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 40:18 To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?
- Deuteronomy 4:15 So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful
- Deuteronomy 4:33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
- Deuteronomy 5:8 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.