Isaiah 40

1 “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.

Comfort you, comfort you my people, says God.

2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

Speak, you priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord's hand double [the amount of] her sins.

3 A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.

4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked [ways] shall become straight, and the rough [places] plains.

5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it.

And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken [it].

6 A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.

The voice of one saying, Cry; and I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass:

7 The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.

8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

The grass withers, and the flower fades: but the word of our God abides for ever.

9 Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

O you that bring glad tidings to Zion, go up on the high mountain; lift up your voice with strength, you that bring glad tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Juda, Behold your God!

10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.

Behold the Lord! The Lord is coming with strength, and [his] arm is with power: behold, his reward is with him, and [his] work before him.

11 He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

He shall tend his flock as a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall soothe them that are with young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?

Who has measured the water in his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in scales, and the forests in a balance?

13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?

Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?

14 Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?

Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgement, or who has taught him the way of understanding;

15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

since all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, [and] shall be counted as spittle?

16 Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.

And Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole burnt offering:

17 All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.

18 To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

To whom have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared him?

19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, [and] made it a similitude?

20 To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple?

For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely enquire how he shall set up his image, and [that so] that it should not be moved.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?

Will you not know? will you not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

[It is] he that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; he that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched [it] out as a tent to dwell in:

23 He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.

he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.

24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

For they shall not plant, neither shall they sow, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground: he has blown upon them, and they are withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks.

25 “To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

Now then to whom have you compared me, that I may be exalted? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Lift up your eyes on high, and see, who has displayed all these things? [even] he that brings forth his host by number: he shall call them all by name by [means of his] great glory, and by the power of his might: nothing has escaped you.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?

For say not you, O Jacob, and why have you spoken, Israel, [saying], My way is hid from God, and my God has taken away [my] judgement, and has departed?

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

And now, have you not known? have you not heard? the eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, and there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.

He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

For the young [men] shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice [men] shall be powerless:

31 But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

but they that wait on God shall renew [their] strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not hunger.