Isaiah 40

1 Give comfort, give comfort, to my people, says your God.

Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith 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.

Bid Jerusalem take heart, and proclaim unto her, that her time of service is accomplished, that her guilt is paid off; that she hath received of the LORD'S hand 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.

Hark! one calleth: 'Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a highway for our God.

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 shall be made low; and the rugged shall be made level, and the rough places 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 shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken 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.

Hark! one saith: 'Proclaim!' And he saith: 'What shall I proclaim?' 'All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower 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 withereth, the flower fadeth; because the breath of the LORD bloweth upon it — surely the people is grass.

8 The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.'

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!

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah: 'Behold 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 will come as a Mighty One, and His arm will rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before 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.

Even as a shepherd that feedeth his flock, that gathereth the lambs in his arm, and carrieth them in his bosom, and gently leadeth those that give suck.

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 hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13 By whom has the spirit of the Lord been guided, or who has been his teacher?

Who hath meted out the spirit of the LORD? Or who was His counsellor that he might instruct Him?

14 Who gave him suggestions, and made clear to him the right way? who gave him knowledge, guiding him in the way of wisdom?

With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of right, and taught Him knowledge, and made Him to know the way of discernment?

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.

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold the isles are as a mote in weight.

16 And Lebanon is not enough to make a fire with, or all its cattle enough for a burned offering.

And Lebanon is not sufficient fuel, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for burnt-offerings.

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; they are accounted by Him as things of nought, and vanity.

18 Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?

To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?

19 The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.

The image perchance, which the craftsman hath melted, and the goldsmith spread over with gold, the silversmith casting 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.

A holm-oak is set apart, he chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning craftsman to set up an image, that shall not be moved.

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?

Know ye not? hear ye not? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood the foundations 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.

It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;

23 He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.

That bringeth princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as a thing of nought.

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.

Scarce are they planted, scarce are they sown, scarce hath their stock taken root in the earth; when He bloweth upon them, they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.

25 Who then seems to you to be my equal? says the Holy One.

To whom then will ye liken Me, that I should be equal? saith 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, and see: who hath created these? He that bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one faileth.

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 sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: 'My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is passed over from 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.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? His discernment is past searching out.

29 He gives power to the feeble, increasing the strength of him who has no force.

He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He increaseth strength.

30 Even the young men will become feeble and tired, and the best of them will come to the end of his strength;

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly 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 they that wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.