Isaiah 40
1 Give comfort, give comfort, to my people, says your God.
“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
2 Say kind words to the heart of Jerusalem, crying out to her that her time of trouble is ended, that her punishment is complete; that she has been rewarded by the Lord's hand twice over for all her sins.
“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.”
3 A voice of one crying, Make ready in the waste land the way of the Lord, make level in the lowland a highway for our God.
A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
4 Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, and let the rough places become level, and the hilltops become a valley,
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.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be made clear, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has said it.
And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it.
6 A voice of one saying, Give a cry! And I said, What is my cry to be? All flesh is grass, and all its strength like the flower of the field.
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.
7 The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
9 You who give good news to Zion, get up into the high mountain; you who give good news to Jerusalem, let your voice be strong; let it be sounding without fear; say to the towns of Judah, See, your God!
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!”
10 See, the Lord God will come as a strong one, ruling in power: see, those made free by him are with him, and those whom he has made safe go before him.
Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.
11 He will give food to his flock like a keeper of sheep; with his arm he will get it together, and will take up the lambs on his breast, gently guiding those which are with young.
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.
12 In the hollow of whose hand have the waters been measured? and who is able to take the heavens in his stretched-out fingers? who has got together the dust of the earth in a measure? who has taken the weight of the mountains, or put the hills into the scales?
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?
13 By whom has the spirit of the Lord been guided, or who has been his teacher?
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
14 Who gave him suggestions, and made clear to him the right way? who gave him knowledge, guiding him in the way of wisdom?
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?
15 See, the nations are to him like a drop hanging from a bucket, and like the small dust in the scales: he takes up the islands like small dust.
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.
16 And Lebanon is not enough to make a fire with, or all its cattle enough for a burned offering.
Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.
All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
18 Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?
To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?
19 The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
20 The wise workman makes selection of the mulberry-tree of the offering, a wood which will not become soft; so that the image may be fixed to it and not be moved.
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?
21 Have you no knowledge of it? has it not come to your ears? has not news of it been given to you from the first? has it not been clear to you from the time when the earth was placed on its base?
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?
22 It is he who is seated over the arch of the earth, and the people in it are as small as locusts; by him the heavens are stretched out like an arch, and made ready like a tent for a living-place.
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.
23 He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.
He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.
24 They have only now been planted, and their seed put into the earth, and they have only now taken root, when he sends out his breath over them and they become dry, and the storm-wind takes them away like dry grass.
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.
25 Who then seems to you to be my equal? says the Holy One.
“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Let your eyes be lifted up on high, and see: who has made these? He who sends out their numbered army: who has knowledge of all their names: by whose great strength, because he is strong in power, all of them are in their places.
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.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, such words as these, O Israel, The Lord's eyes are not on my way, and my God gives no attention to my cause?
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”?
28 Have you no knowledge of it? has it not come to your ears? The eternal God, the Lord, the Maker of the ends of the earth, is never feeble or tired; there is no searching out of his wisdom.
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.
29 He gives power to the feeble, increasing the strength of him who has no force.
He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
30 Even the young men will become feeble and tired, and the best of them will come to the end of his strength;
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
31 But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness.
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.
