Isaiah 40
1 “Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.
Give comfort, give comfort, to my people, says your God.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
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.
3 The voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight the paths of our God, in a solitary place.
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.
4 Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked will be straightened, and the uneven will become level ways.
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,
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. And all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
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.
6 The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” And I said, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
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.
7 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. For the Spirit of the Lord has blown over it. Truly, the people are like grass.
The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.
8 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. But the Word of our Lord remains for eternity.”
The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.
9 You who evangelize Zion, climb a high mountain! You who evangelize Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah: “Behold, your God!”
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!
10 Behold, the Lord God will arrive in strength, and his arm will rule. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him.
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.
11 He will pasture his flock like a shepherd. He will gather together the lambs with his arm, and he will lift them up to his bosom, and he himself will carry the very young.
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.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and who has weighed the heavens with his palm? Who has suspended the mass of the earth with three fingers, and who has weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on a scale?
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?
13 Who has assisted the Spirit of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor and has revealed things to him?
By whom has the spirit of the Lord been guided, or who has been his teacher?
14 With whom has he consulted? And who has instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and guided him to knowledge, and revealed the way of understanding to him?
Who gave him suggestions, and made clear to him the right way? who gave him knowledge, guiding him in the way of wisdom?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop of water in a bucket, and they are considered as the smallest grain on a balance. Behold, the islands are like a little dust.
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.
16 And Lebanon will not be sufficient to start a fire, and its animals will not be sufficient for a burnt offering.
And Lebanon is not enough to make a fire with, or all its cattle enough for a burned offering.
17 All the nations in his sight are as if they did not exist, and they are considered by him as if they were nothingness and emptiness.
All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.
18 Therefore, to whom would you liken God? Or with what image would you replace him?
Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?
19 Should the workman cast a statue? Or has the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
The workman makes an image, and the gold-worker puts gold plates over it, and makes silver bands for it.
20 He has chosen strong wood that will not decay. The skillful artisan seeks a way to set up an idol that cannot be moved.
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.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not understood the foundations of the earth?
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?
22 He is the One who sits upon the globe of the earth, and its inhabitants are like locusts. He extends the heavens as if they were nothing, and he spreads them out like a tent, in which to dwell.
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.
23 He has brought those who examine what is secret to nothingness. He has brought the judges of the earth to emptiness.
He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.
24 And certainly, their stalk was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the ground. He has suddenly blown across them, and they have withered, and a whirlwind will carry them away like chaff.
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.
25 “And to whom would you compare me or equate me?” says the Holy One.
Who then seems to you to be my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things. He leads forth their army by number, and he calls them all by name. Because of the fullness of his strength and robustness and virtue, not one of them was left behind.
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.
27 Why do you say this, O Jacob, and why do you speak this way, O Israel? “My way has been hidden from the Lord, and my judgment escaped notice by my God.”
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?
28 Do you not know, or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, who has created the limits of the earth. He does not diminish, and he does not struggle. Neither is his wisdom searchable.
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.
29 It is he who gives strength to the weary, and it is he who increases fortitude and strength in those who are failing.
He gives power to the feeble, increasing the strength of him who has no force.
30 Servants will struggle and fail, and young men will fall into infirmity.
Even the young men will become feeble and tired, and the best of them will come to the end of his strength;
31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will take up wings like eagles. They will run and not struggle. They will walk and not tire.
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.
