Isaiah 40
1 Give comfort, give comfort, to my people, says your God.
あなたがたの神は言われる、「慰めよ、わが民を慰めよ、
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.
ねんごろにエルサレムに語り、これに呼ばわれ、その服役の期は終り、そのとがはすでにゆるされ、そのもろもろの罪のために二倍の刑罰を主の手から受けた」。
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.
呼ばわる者の声がする、「荒野に主の道を備え、さばくに、われわれの神のために、大路をまっすぐにせよ。
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,
もろもろの谷は高くせられ、もろもろの山と丘とは低くせられ、高底のある地は平らになり、険しい所は平地となる。
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.
こうして主の栄光があらわれ、人は皆ともにこれを見る。これは主の口が語られたのである」。
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.
声が聞える、「呼ばわれ」。わたしは言った、「なんと呼ばわりましょうか」。「人はみな草だ。その麗しさは、すべて野の花のようだ。
7 The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.
主の息がその上に吹けば、草は枯れ、花はしぼむ。たしかに人は草だ。
8 The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.
草は枯れ、花はしぼむ。しかし、われわれの神の言葉はとこしえに変ることはない」。
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!
よきおとずれをシオンに伝える者よ、高い山にのぼれ。よきおとずれをエルサレムに伝える者よ、強く声をあげよ、声をあげて恐れるな。ユダのもろもろの町に言え、「あなたがたの神を見よ」と。
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.
見よ、主なる神は大能をもってこられ、その腕は世を治める。見よ、その報いは主と共にあり、そのはたらきの報いは、そのみ前にある。
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.
主は牧者のようにその群れを養い、そのかいなに小羊をいだき、そのふところに入れて携えゆき、乳を飲ませているものをやさしく導かれる。
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?
だれが、たなごころをもって海をはかり、指を伸ばして天をはかり、地のちりを枡に盛り、てんびんをもって、もろもろの山をはかり、はかりをもって、もろもろの丘をはかったか。
13 By whom has the spirit of the Lord been guided, or who has been his teacher?
だれが、主の霊を導き、その相談役となって主を教えたか。
14 Who gave him suggestions, and made clear to him the right way? who gave him knowledge, guiding him in the way of wisdom?
主はだれと相談して悟りを得たか。だれが主に公義の道を教え、知識を教え、悟りの道を示したか。
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.
見よ、もろもろの国民は、おけの一しずくのように、はかりの上のちりのように思われる。見よ、主は島々を、ほこりのようにあげられる。
16 And Lebanon is not enough to make a fire with, or all its cattle enough for a burned offering.
レバノンは、たきぎに足りない、またその獣は、燔祭に足りない。
17 All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.
主のみ前には、もろもろの国民は無きにひとしい。彼らは主によって、無きもののように、むなしいもののように思われる。
18 Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?
それで、あなたがたは神をだれとくらべ、どんな像と比較しようとするのか。
19 The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
偶像は細工人が鋳て造り、鍛冶が、金をもって、それをおおい、また、これがために銀の鎖を造る。
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.
貧しい者は、ささげ物として朽ちることのない木を選び、巧みな細工人を求めて、動くことのない像を立たせる。
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?
あなたがたは知らなかったか。あなたがたは聞かなかったか。初めから、あなたがたに伝えられなかったか。地の基をおいた時から、あなたがたは悟らなかったか。
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.
主は地球のはるか上に座して、地に住む者をいなごのように見られる。主は天を幕のようにひろげ、これを住むべき天幕のように張り、
23 He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.
また、もろもろの君を無きものとせられ、地のつかさたちを、むなしくされる。
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.
彼らは、かろうじて植えられ、かろうじてまかれ、その幹がかろうじて地に根をおろしたとき、神がその上を吹かれると、彼らは枯れて、わらのように、つむじ風にまき去られる。
25 Who then seems to you to be my equal? says the Holy One.
聖者は言われる、「それで、あなたがたは、わたしをだれにくらべ、わたしは、だれにひとしいというのか」。
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.
目を高くあげて、だれが、これらのものを創造したかを見よ。主は数をしらべて万軍をひきいだし、おのおのをその名で呼ばれる。その勢いの大いなるにより、またその力の強きがゆえに、一つも欠けることはない。
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?
ヤコブよ、何ゆえあなたは、「わが道は主に隠れている」と言うか。イスラエルよ、何ゆえあなたは、「わが訴えはわが神に顧みられない」と言うか。
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.
あなたは知らなかったか、あなたは聞かなかったか。主はとこしえの神、地の果の創造者であって、弱ることなく、また疲れることなく、その知恵ははかりがたい。
29 He gives power to the feeble, increasing the strength of him who has no force.
弱った者には力を与え、勢いのない者には強さを増し加えられる。
30 Even the young men will become feeble and tired, and the best of them will come to the end of his strength;
年若い者も弱り、かつ疲れ、壮年の者も疲れはてて倒れる。
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.
しかし主を待ち望む者は新たなる力を得、わしのように翼をはって、のぼることができる。走っても疲れることなく、歩いても弱ることはない。
