Isaiah 40

1 “Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.

Comfort all of you, comfort all of you 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.

Speak all of you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD's hand double 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.

The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare all of you the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert 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.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

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 shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken 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.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as 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 withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it: surely 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 withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

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!”

O Zion, that bring good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold 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.

Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work 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 shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that 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?

Who has 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 Who has assisted the Spirit of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor and has revealed things to him?

Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor has taught him?

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?

With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?

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.

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.

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 sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt 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 nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

18 Therefore, to whom would you liken God? Or with what image would you replace him?

To whom then will all of you liken God? or what likeness will all of you compare unto 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 melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.

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.

He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall 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 all of you not known? have all of you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have all of you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

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 that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:

23 He has brought those who examine what is secret to nothingness. He has brought the judges of the earth to emptiness.

That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity.

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.

Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

25 “And to whom would you compare me or equate me?” says the Holy One.

To whom then will all of you liken me, or shall I be 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.

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.

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 say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

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 not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

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 faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.

30 Servants will struggle and fail, and young men will fall into infirmity.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

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 they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.