Isaiah 40
1 Give comfort, give comfort, to my people, says your God.
Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus, dicit Deus vester.
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.
Loquimini ad cor Jerusalem, et advocate eam, quoniam completa est malitia ejus, dimissa est iniquitas illius: suscepit de manu Domini duplicia pro omnibus peccatis suis.
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.
Vox clamantis in deserto: Parate viam Domini, rectas facite in solitudine semitas Dei nostri.
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,
Omnis vallis exaltabitur, et omnis mons et collis humiliabitur, et erunt prava in directa, et aspera in vias planas:
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.
et revelabitur gloria Domini, et videbit omnis caro pariter quod os Domini locutum est.
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.
Vox dicentis: Clama. Et dixi: Quid clamabo? Omnis caro fœnum, et omnis gloria ejus quasi flos agri.
7 The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.
Exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos, quia spiritus Domini sufflavit in eo. Vere fœnum est populus:
8 The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.
exsiccatum est fœnum, et cecidit flos; verbum autem Domini nostri manet in æternum.
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!
Super montem excelsum ascende, tu qui evangelizas Sion; exalta in fortitudine vocem tuam, qui evangelizas Jerusalem: exalta, noli timere. Dic civitatibus Juda: Ecce Deus vester:
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.
ecce Dominus Deus in fortitudine veniet, et brachium ejus dominabitur: ecce merces ejus cum eo, et opus illius coram illo.
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.
Sicut pastor gregem suum pascet, in brachio suo congregabit agnos, et in sinu suo levabit; fœtas ipse portabit.
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?
Quis mensus est pugillo aquas, et cælos palmo ponderavit? quis appendit tribus digitis molem terræ, et libravit in pondere montes, et colles in statera?
13 By whom has the spirit of the Lord been guided, or who has been his teacher?
Quis adjuvit spiritum Domini? aut quis consiliarius ejus fuit, et ostendit illi?
14 Who gave him suggestions, and made clear to him the right way? who gave him knowledge, guiding him in the way of wisdom?
cum quo iniit consilium, et instruxit eum, et docuit eum semitam justitiæ, et erudivit eum scientiam, et viam prudentiæ ostendit illi?
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.
Ecce gentes quasi stilla situlæ, et quasi momentum stateræ reputatæ sunt; ecce insulæ quasi pulvis exiguus.
16 And Lebanon is not enough to make a fire with, or all its cattle enough for a burned offering.
Et Libanus non sufficiet ad succendendum, et animalia ejus non sufficient ad holocaustum.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.
Omnes gentes quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo, et quasi nihilum et inane reputatæ sunt ei.
18 Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?
Cui ergo similem fecisti Deum? aut quam imaginem ponetis ei?
19 The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
Numquid sculptile conflavit faber? aut aurifex auro figuravit illud, et laminis argenteis argentarius?
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.
Forte lignum et imputribile elegit; artifex sapiens quærit quomodo statuat simulacrum, quod non moveatur.
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?
Numquid non scitis? numquid non audistis? numquid non annuntiatum est vobis ab initio? numquid non intellexistis fundamenta terræ?
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.
Qui sedet super gyrum terræ, et habitatores ejus sunt quasi locustæ; qui extendit velut nihilum cælos, et expandit eos sicut tabernaculum ad inhabitandum;
23 He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.
qui dat secretorum scrutatores quasi non sint, judices terræ velut inane fecit.
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.
Et quidem neque plantatus, neque satus, neque radicatus in terra truncus eorum; repente flavit in eos, et aruerunt, et turbo quasi stipulam auferet eos.
25 Who then seems to you to be my equal? says the Holy One.
Et cui assimilastis me, et adæquastis? dicit Sanctus.
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.
Levate in excelsum oculos vestros, et videte quis creavit hæc: qui educit in numero militiam eorum, et omnes ex nomine vocat; præ multitudine fortitudinis et roboris, virtutisque ejus, neque unum reliquum fuit.
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?
Quare dicis, Jacob, et loqueris, Israël: Abscondita est via mea a Domino, et a Deo meo judicium meum transivit?
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.
Numquid nescis, aut non audisti? Deus sempiternus Dominus, qui creavit terminos terræ: non deficiet, neque laborabit, nec est investigatio sapientiæ ejus.
29 He gives power to the feeble, increasing the strength of him who has no force.
Qui dat lasso virtutem, et his qui non sunt, fortitudinem et robur multiplicat.
30 Even the young men will become feeble and tired, and the best of them will come to the end of his strength;
Deficient pueri, et laborabunt, et juvenes in infirmitate cadent;
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.
qui autem sperant in Domino mutabunt fortitudinem, assument pennas sicut aquilæ: current et non laborabunt, ambulabunt et non deficient.
