King James Bible
"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?"
Isaiah opens with a rhetorical question emphasizing God's incomparable greatness—the vast oceans fit within His cupped palm. This anthropomorphic image contrasts human limitations with divine omnipotence, introducing a series of impossible measurements only God could perform. The infinite expanse of the heavens is reduced to the distance between God's thumb and little finger. This second image reinforces that what seems boundless to humanity is easily encompassed by the Creator's reach. God precisely quantifies earth's smallest particles and weighs its most massive features as easily as a merchant measures grain. These images climax the verse's argument that creation's scope—from cosmic to minute—remains completely within God's sovereign control and understanding.