Isaiah 40
1 “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your 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 ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all 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 desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness 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 exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
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 thereof as the flower of the held.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
The grass is withered, and the dower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth 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!”
Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good 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 God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is 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 feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry 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 hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught 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?
With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed 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.
Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.
And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?
To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him?
19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
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?
He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skillful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may 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?
Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood 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 sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
23 He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.
He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.
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.
And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 “To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith 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 hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.
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”?
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
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.
Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.
29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
Youths shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by infirmity.
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 hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
