Esias 40
1 Comfort you, comfort you my people, says God.
Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.
2 Speak, you priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord's hand double [the amount of] 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 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.
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 filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked [ways] shall become straight, and the rough [places] plains.
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 shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken [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 The voice of one saying, Cry; and I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass:
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.
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 flower fades: but the word of our God abides for ever.
The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.
9 O you that bring glad tidings to Zion, go up on the high mountain; lift up your voice with strength, you that bring glad tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Juda, Behold 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! The Lord is coming with strength, and [his] arm is with power: behold, his reward is with him, and [his] work before 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 shall tend his flock as a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall soothe them that are with young.
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 water in his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in scales, and the forests in 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 known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?
Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him?
14 Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgement, or who has taught 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 since all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, [and] shall be counted as spittle?
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 And Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole burnt offering:
And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.
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 have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared him?
To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him?
19 Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, [and] made it a similitude?
Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
20 For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely enquire how he shall set up his image, and [that so] that it should not be moved.
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 Will you not know? will you not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have you not known the foundations 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 [It is] he that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; he that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched [it] out as 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 that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 For they shall not plant, neither shall they sow, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground: he has blown upon them, and they are withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks.
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 Now then to whom have you compared me, that I may be exalted? says 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, and see, who has displayed all these things? [even] he that brings forth his host by number: he shall call them all by name by [means of his] great glory, and by the power of his might: nothing has escaped you.
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 For say not you, O Jacob, and why have you spoken, Israel, [saying], My way is hid from God, and my God has taken away [my] judgement, and has departed?
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 And now, have you not known? have you not heard? the eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, and there is no searching of his understanding.
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 strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not.
30 For the young [men] shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice [men] shall be powerless:
Youths shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by infirmity.
31 but they that wait on God shall renew [their] strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not hunger.
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.
