Tafsiran Yesaya 40:22: Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Malbim & Tze'enah Ure'enah

the circle Heb. חוּג, an expression similar to (infra 44:13) “And with a compass (וּבַמְּחוּגָה),” a circle (compas in O.F.).

חוג Circle. Comp. מחוגה compass (44:13), the instrument, which is used to describe a circle.—Here it is stated that the earth is round and not square, though no verse is required for the support of this statement; for it is known by convincing proofs.⁵⁰This remark is probably made, to shew that the expression from the four corners of the earth used by Isaiah (11:12), and Ezekiel (7:2), is not to be taken literally. He who sitteth upon the circle of the earth. He whose glory fills the whole earth.

“He who sits” because among the multitude of people, some picture God to themselves as sitting in heaven, with the earth as His footstool; and some picture Him as a king who sits and encamps among them, with the heavens spread above Him like a tent. He says: If you picture Him in your imagination as sitting upon the circle of the earth, meaning upon the heavens, which form the circumference of the earth, with the earth being the center of the circumference and of the sphere of the heavens, and the heavens being the circumference that surrounds the center of the earth, then necessarily its inhabitants are like grasshoppers in His eyes, like one who looks from a great distance, so that the object perceived appears small in his eyes. Likewise, the inhabitants of the earth appear diminished in His eyes and are considered as nothing in comparison with the height of His dwelling place.

and whose inhabitants are to Him [lit. before Him] like grasshoppers.

like a curtain Heb. כַדֹּק, a curtain, toile in French.