Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Isaiah 40:15

15. of--rather, (hanging) from a bucket [Maurer].

he taketh up ... as a very little thing--rather, "are as a mere grain of dust which is taken up," namely, by the wind; literally, "one taketh up," impersonally (Ex 16:14) [Maurer].

isles--rather, "lands" in general, answering to "the nations" in the parallel clause; perhaps lands, like Mesopotamia, enclosed by rivers [Jerome] (so Is 42:15). However, English Version, "isles" answers well to "mountains" (Is 40:12), both alike being lifted up by the power of God; in fact, "isles" are mountains upheaved from the bed of the sea by volcanic agency; only that he seems here to have passed from unintelligent creatures (Is 40:12) to intelligent, as nations and lands, that is, their inhabitants.