Isaiah 40

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

Comfort you, comfort you my people, says God.

2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has 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 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert 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 exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven 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 The LORD’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD 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 The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory 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, the flower fades, because the LORD’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”

The grass withers, and the flower fades: but the word of our God abides for ever.

9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to 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 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have 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, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, 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 has directed the LORD’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counsellor?

Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?

14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgement, or who has taught him the way of understanding;

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

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 to burn, nor its 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 like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.

18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

To whom have you compared the Lord? and with what likeness have you compared him?

19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts 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 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skilful workman to set up a carved image for him that will 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 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you 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 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like 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 who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.

24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes 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 you liken me? Who is my equal?” says 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 has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

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 speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me is disregarded by 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 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

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 power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.

30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly 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 the LORD will renew their strength. They will mount up 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.