Drop in a bucket/ocean/sea

These idioms generally omit the phrase 'of water' in phrases that strictly speaking should be 'a drop of water in a bucket of water' or 'a drop of water in the ocean'. The meaning, of course, is that a drop of water in a bucket of water or in the ocean, is a small, inconsequential amount. The source is the Bible, Isaiah, 40:15. “The nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance.” The ocean and sea are often substituted for bucket, and the first citation for 'a drop in the ocean' is in a book written by Ezekias Woodward, A Chides Patrimony, published in 1640.