Esias 40
1 Comfort you, comfort you my people, says God.
Comfort all of you, comfort all of you my people, says 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 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 in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.
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 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 be made straight, and the rough places 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 shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
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 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:
The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withers, and the flower fades: but the word of our God abides for ever.
The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand 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!
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! 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 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 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 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 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 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 known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor has taught him?
14 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;
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 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 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 Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole burnt offering:
And Lebanon is not sufficient 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 before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared him?
To whom then will all of you liken God? or what likeness will all of you compare unto him?
19 Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, [and] made it a similitude?
The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
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 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 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?
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 [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 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 that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
That brings the princes to nothing; he makes 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.
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 Now then to whom have you compared me, that I may be exalted? 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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 He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.
30 For the young [men] shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice [men] shall be powerless:
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
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 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.
