Isaiah
CHAPTER 40
1 Comfort, O comfort My people, Says your God.
2 Speak unto the heart of Jerusalem, And cry out to her, That her warfare has finished, That the penalty for her iniquity has been accepted; For she has received from the hand of Jehovah double For all her sins.
3 The voice of one who cries In the wilderness: Make clear The way of Jehovah; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.
4 Every valley will be lifted up, And every mountain and hill will be made low, And the crooked places will become straight, And the rough places, a broad plain.
5 Then the glory of Jehovah will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together, Because the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.
6 A voice said, Cry out. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass And all its glory is like the flower of the field;
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of Jehovah blows upon it. Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flower fades, But the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Go up to a high mountain, O Zion, who brings glad tidings; Lift up your voice with power, O Jerusalem, who brings glad tidings; Lift it up, Do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty One, And His arm will rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, And His recompense before Him.
11 He will feed His flock as a Shepherd; In His arm He will gather the lambs; In His bosom He will carry them. He will lead those who are nursing the young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, Who has calculated the extent of the heavens with a handspan, And measured out the dust of the earth by a measure, And weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in balances?
13 Who will direct the Spirit of Jehovah, Or who will make matters known to Him as His counselor?
14 With whom did He consult and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice, And taught Him knowledge, And caused Him to know the way of understanding?
15 Indeed the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are accounted as specks of dust on the scales. Indeed He takes up the islands as very fine powder.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor are its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him; They are counted by Him as less than nothing and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19 When the workman has cast an idol, A goldsmith overlays it with gold Also refining chains of silverfor it.
20 He that is so impoverished that he lacks an offering Chooses wood that will not rot, And seeks a skillful craftsman for himself To prepare an idol that will not be moved.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from 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;
23 Who brings the princes to nought; He makes the judges of the earth as nothing.
24 They have scarcely been planted; They have scarcely been sown; Their stem has scarcely taken root in the earth; Nevertheless He blows on them and they are withered, And the storm wind carries them away like stubble.
25 To whom will you liken Me, That I should be compared? Says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls all of them by name. Through the greatness of His might and the strength of His power Not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, And why do you speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from Jehovah, And my judgment has been passed over by my God?
28 Do you not know, Or have you not heard, That the eternal God, Jehovah, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Does not faint and does not become weary? There is no searching out of His understanding.
29 He gives power to the faint, And to those who have no vigor He multiplies strength.
30 Although youths will faint and become weary, And young men will collapse exhausted;
31 Yet those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles; They will run and will not faint; They will walk and will not become weary.