Isaiah 40
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
Comfort you, comfort you my people, says God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem; and proclaim to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received double from Yahweh's hand 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 A voice cries out, “In the wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh; make straight in the Arabah 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 will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; and the rugged land will 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 Yahweh will be revealed, and all people will see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has 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 A voice says, “Cry.” Another answers, “What should I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all their covenant faithfulness is like 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 withers and the flower wilts when the breath of Yahweh blows on it; surely humanity is grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower wilts, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
The grass withers, and the flower fades: but the word of our God abides for ever.
9 Go up on a high mountain, Zion, bearer of good news. Shout out loud, Jerusalem. You who bring good news, raise your voice, do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is 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 Look, the Lord Yahweh comes as a victorious warrior, and his strong arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and those he has rescued go 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 He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather in his arm the lambs, and carry them close to his heart, and will gently lead the ewes nursing their young.
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 has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, measured the sky with the span of his hand, held the dust of the earth in a basket, weighed the mountains in scales, or 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 has comprehended the mind of Yahweh, or instructed him as his counselor?
Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?
14 From whom did he ever receive instruction? Who taught him the correct way to do things, and taught him knowledge, or showed to him the way of understanding?
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 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded like the dust on the scales; see, he weighs the isles as a speck.
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 Lebanon is not sufficient fuel, nor its wild animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
And Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole burnt offering:
17 All the nations are insufficient before him; they are regarded by him as nothing.
and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.
18 To whom then will you compare God? To what idol will you liken him?
To whom have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared him?
19 An idol! A craftsman casts it: The goldsmith overlays it with gold and forges silver chains for it.
Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, [and] made it a similitude?
20 To make an offering one chooses a wood that will not rot; he seeks a skillful artisan to make an idol that will not fall over.
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 not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from 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 He is the one who sits above the horizon of the earth; and the inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out as a tent 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 reduces rulers to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth insignificant.
he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
24 They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem has barely taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them and they wither, and the wind carries them away like straw.
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 you compare me, whom do I resemble?” says the Holy One.
Now then to whom have you compared me, that I may be exalted? says the Holy One.
26 Look up at the sky! Who has created all these stars? He leads out their formations and calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might and by the strength of his power, not one is missing.
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 do you say, Jacob, and declare, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and my God is not concerned about my vindication”?
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 not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not get tired or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.
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 gives strength to the tired; and to the weak he gives renewed energy.
He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
30 Even young people become tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall:
For the young [men] shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice [men] shall be powerless:
31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength; they will soar with wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary; they will 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.
