Isaiah 40
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.
Comfort you, comfort you my people, says God.
2 Bid Jerusalem take heart, and proclaim unto her, that her time of service is accomplished, that her guilt is paid off; that she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.
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.
3 Hark! one calleth: 'Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a highway for our God.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the rugged shall be made level, and the rough places a plain;
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.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.'
And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken [it].
6 Hark! one saith: 'Proclaim!' And he saith: 'What shall I proclaim?' 'All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field;
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:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the breath of the LORD bloweth upon it — surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.'
The grass withers, and the flower fades: but the word of our God abides for ever.
9 O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah: 'Behold your God!'
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!
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a Mighty One, and His arm will rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.
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.
11 Even as a shepherd that feedeth his flock, that gathereth the lambs in his arm, and carrieth them in his bosom, and gently leadeth those that give suck.
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.
12 Who hath 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?
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?
13 Who hath meted out the spirit of the LORD? Or who was His counsellor that he might instruct Him?
Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?
14 With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of right, and taught Him knowledge, and made Him to know the way of discernment?
Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgment, or who has taught him the way of understanding;
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold the isles are as a mote in weight.
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?
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient fuel, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for burnt-offerings.
And Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole burnt offering:
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are accounted by Him as things of nought, and vanity.
and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?
To whom have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared him?
19 The image perchance, which the craftsman hath melted, and the goldsmith spread over with gold, the silversmith casting silver chains?
Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, [and] made it a similitude?
20 A holm-oak is set apart, he chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning craftsman to set up an image, that shall not be moved.
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.
21 Know ye not? hear ye not? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood the foundations of the earth?
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?
22 It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;
[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:
23 That bringeth princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as a thing of nought.
he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
24 Scarce are they planted, scarce are they sown, scarce hath their stock taken root in the earth; when He bloweth upon them, they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.
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.
25 To whom then will ye liken Me, that I should be equal? saith the Holy One.
Now then to whom have you compared me, that I may be exalted? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see: who hath created these? He that bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one faileth.
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.
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: 'My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is passed over from my God'?
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?
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? His discernment is past searching out.
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.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He increaseth strength.
He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;
For the young [men] shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice [men] shall be powerless:
31 But they that wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
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.
