Isaiah 40
1 Our God says, “Encourage my people! Encourage them!
Comfort you, comfort you my people, says 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, 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 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 one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of 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 filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked [ways] shall become straight, and the rough [places] plains.
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 appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for 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 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 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.
8 The grass withers and the flowers dry up, but what our God promises will last forever.”
The grass withers, and the flower fades: but the word of our God abides 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 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 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! The Lord is coming with strength, and [his] arm is with power: 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 tend his flock as a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall soothe them 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 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 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 known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct 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]
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 [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.
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 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 Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole 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].
and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.
18 So, to whom can you compare God? What image resembles him?
To whom have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared 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?
Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, [and] made it a similitude?
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!
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 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?
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 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 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 He causes kings to have no more power, and he causes the rulers to be worth nothing.
he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
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.
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 The Holy One asks, “To whom will you compare me? Is anyone equal to me?”
Now then to whom have you compared me, that I may be exalted? 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 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 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?
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 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.
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 strengthens [DOU] those who feel weak and tired.
He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
30 Even youths become faint and weary, and young men will fall when they are exhausted.
For the young [men] shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice [men] shall be powerless:
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 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.
