Isaiah 40:26

Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Lord addresses Jacob and Israel during a moment of complaint regarding His perceived absence. He issues a direct command to observe the sky before posing a rhetorical question about its origin.

The words — The text emphasizes בָרָא (va.Ra'), literally "did he create," and הַ/מּוֹצִ֥יא (ha./mo.Tzi'), meaning "the [one who] brings out." These verbs frame the celestial host as both a finished product and an actively directed assembly.

The thread — The claim of exact divine numbering and sustaining power runs through Jeremiah 32:17, Colossians 1:16, and Isaiah 48:13. Each reference anchors the same assertion that God's creative act includes precise knowledge and continuous control.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to match a claim of divine neglect against the stated fact of exhaustive oversight. It demands a logical conclusion that a God who numbers and calls each star cannot fail to address human complaints.

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

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Cross-references

Colossians 1:16 For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Jeremiah 32:17 “Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
Isaiah 48:13 Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.
Psalms 89:11 The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.
Psalms 147:4 He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.
Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
Deuteronomy 4:19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
Job 31:26 if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,