This verse has a single rhetorical question with four synonymous parts. The question is very similar to the questions in 40.18 and 25. It makes a strong statement that no one can be compared to the LORD. No one is equal to him.

To whom will you liken me and make me equal…?: This line has the first two parts of the rhetorical question. For the verb liken, see the comments on 40.18. For the Hebrew verb rendered make … equal, see 40.25, where it is translated “be like.” An alternative rendering for this line is “Who is similar to [or, like] me? Which person [or, Who] is the same as me?” For languages that prefer emphatic statements instead of rhetorical questions here, it may be rendered “No one is like me. No one is my equal.” Good News Translation adds “says the LORD” to this line to remind readers that Yahweh is still speaking.

And compare me, that we may be alike is parallel to the previous line, providing the last two parts of the rhetorical question. Be alike renders the same Hebrew verb as liken in the first line. This verb brackets the verse. A model that uses strong statements here is “You certainly cannot compare me with another. I am unlike any other!”

Revised English Bible uses four independent questions in this verse as follows: “To whom will you liken me? Who is my equal? With whom can you compare me? Where is my like?” Some translators may find this an acceptable way of making the four points clear. Good News Translation reduces the four parts to two questions. Contemporary English Version is similar with “Can anyone compare with me? Is anyone my equal?” In languages that find a fourfold repetition unacceptable, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version provide reasonable alternatives. However, we prefer to retain the four parts if possible, because it gives readers a good indication of the writer’s style. He often uses three or four synonymous expressions to make a strong point.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• “Whom do you consider to be like me? Who is my equal?
Whom do you compare me with? Are we alike?

• “With whom do you liken me or make me their equal?
With whom do you compare me or make us alike [to one another]?

• “You cannot at all liken me to any other. I have no equal.
You cannot at all compare me with another, and make us alike.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .