Isaiah 40
1 Our God says, “Encourage my people! Encourage them!
Comfort all of you, comfort all of you my people, says your God.
2 Speak kindly to [the people of] Jerusalem; tell them that their suffering is ended, and that I have forgiven them for the sins that they have committed; I [SYN] have fully punished them for their 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 I hear someone who is shouting, “Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh to come [to you]; make a smooth road for our God (OR, Prepare yourselves to receive Yahweh when he comes, like people make a straight road for an important official [MET]).
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 Fill in the valleys; flatten every hill and every mountain. Make the uneven ground smooth, and make the rough places smooth.
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 [If you do that], it will become known that Yahweh is glorious/great, and all people will realize it at the same time. [Those things will surely happen] because it is Yahweh who has said [MTY] 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 Someone said to me, “Shout!” I replied, “What should I shout?” [He replied], “[Shout that] people are like [SIM] grass; their influence fades as quickly as flowers in 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 Grass withers and flowers dry up when Yahweh causes a hot wind from the desert to blow on them. And people are [MET] like that.
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 flowers dry up, but what our God promises will last forever.”
The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 You [people of] Jerusalem, you have good news to tell to people, so, shout it from the top of a high mountain! Shout it loudly, and do not be afraid! Tell the people in the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming here!”
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 Yahweh your God will be coming with power; he will rule powerfully [MTY]. And when he comes, he will bring with him the people whom he has freed [MET] [from being slaves in Babylonia].
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 take care of his people like [SIM] a shepherd takes care of his sheep, and carries the young lambs in his arms. He carries them close to his chest and he gently leads the female sheep that are nursing their young lambs.
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 [There is no one like Yahweh]! (Who else has measured the water in the oceans in the palm of his hand?/No one else has measured the water in the oceans in the palm of his hand!) [RHQ] (Who else has measured the sky with his fingers?/No one else has measured the sky with his fingers!) [RHQ] (Who else knows how much the earth weighs?/No one else knows how much the earth weighs!) [RHQ] (Who else has weighed the mountains and hills on scales?/No one else has weighed the mountains and hills on scales!) [RHQ]
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 And (who else can advise Yahweh’s Spirit?/No one else can advise Yahweh’s Spirit!) [RHQ] (Who can teach him or advise/tell him what he should do?/No one can teach him or advise/tell him what he should do!) [RHQ]
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor has taught him?
14 (Has Yahweh consulted anyone else to get advice?/Yahweh has certainly not consulted anyone else to get advice!) [RHQ] (Does he need someone to tell him what is right to do and how to act justly?/He certainly does not need someone to tell him what is right to do and how to act justly!) [RHQ]
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 [Yahweh considers that] the nations are [as insignificant as] [MET] one drop from a bucket [full of water]. They are [as insignificant as] dust on scales. He is able to weigh islands [as though they weighed no more than] grains of sand.
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 There would be [not] enough wood from all the trees in Lebanon to make a suitable fire for [sacrificing animals to] him, and there are not enough animals in Lebanon to offer as sacrifices to him.
And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 The nations of the world are completely insignificant/unimportant to him; he considers that they are worthless and less than nothing [HYP, DOU].
All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 So, to whom can you compare God? What image resembles him?
To whom then will all of you liken God? or what likeness will all of you compare unto him?
19 Can you compare him to an idol that is made in a mold, and then is covered with [a thin sheet of] gold and decorated with silver chains?
The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
20 A man who is poor [cannot buy silver or gold for his idol]; [so] he selects a piece of wood that will not rot, and he gives it to a craftsman to carve an idol that will not fall down!
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 Have you(pl) not heard this? Do you not understand it? Are you unable to hear what God said long ago— [messages that he gave] before he created 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 God sits [on his throne] above the earth, and the people [on the earth] below seem to be [as small] as [SIM] grasshoppers. He spreads out the sky like a curtain; it is like [SIM] a tent for him to live 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 causes kings to have no more power, and he causes the rulers to be worth nothing.
That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 They start to rule, like small plants start to grow and form roots; but then [he gets rid of them] as though [MET] they withered when he blew on them, like [SIM] chaff that is blown away by the wind.
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 The Holy One asks, “To whom will you compare me? Is anyone equal to me?”
To whom then will all of you liken me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
26 Look up toward the sky: Consider who [RHQ] created all the stars. [Yahweh created them], and at night he causes them to appear; he calls each one by its name. Because he is extremely powerful [DOU], all of the stars are there [LIT] [when he calls out their names].
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 You people of Israel [DOU], why do you complain that Yahweh does not see the [troubles that you are experiencing]? Why do you say that he does not act fairly toward you?
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 Have you never heard and have you never understood that Yahweh is the everlasting God; he is the one who created the earth, [even the] most distant places on the earth. He never becomes weak or weary, and no one can find out how much he understands.
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 strengthens [DOU] those who feel weak and tired.
He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths become faint and weary, and young men will fall when they are exhausted.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But those who trust in Yahweh will become strong again; [it will be as though] they will soar/fly high like [SIM] eagles do. They will run [for a long time] and not become weary; they will walk [long distances] and not faint.
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.
