Isaiah 40:23 (KJV)

Passage

That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 40:21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

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:

Isaiah 40:23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

Isaiah 40:24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

Isaiah 40:25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "bringeth", "princes", "nothing", "maketh", "judges", "earth", and "vanity". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "bringeth" and "princes", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 22's "It is he that sitteth upon the..." into verse 24's "Yea they shall not be planted yea...", so "bringeth" and "princes" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "bringeth" and "princes" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.