Isaiah 40

¹ Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.

² Speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and cry out to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.

³ A voice is calling:
In the wilderness, prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.

⁴ Every valley will be raised up,
and every mountain and hill made low;
the rugged ground will become level,
and the ridges a broad valley.

⁵ Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all flesh together will see it,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

⁶ A voice says, "Call out!"
And one says, "What shall I call out?"
All flesh is grass,
and all its loyalty is like the wildflower.

⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it.
Surely the people are grass.

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

⁹ Go up on a high mountain,
O Zion, bearer of good news!
Raise your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, bearer of good news!
Raise it, do not be afraid;
say to the cities of Judah,
"Here is your God!"

¹⁰ See, the Lord GOD comes with strength,
and his arm rules for him.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.

¹¹ Like a shepherd he tends his flock;
with his arm he gathers the lambs
and carries them in his bosom,
and gently leads those nursing their young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
and marked off the heavens with a span,
and held the dust of the earth in a measure,
and weighed the mountains in a balance
and the hills in scales?

¹³ Who has directed the spirit of the LORD,
or as his counselor has instructed him?

¹⁴ With whom did he take counsel and who gave him understanding?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of discernment?

¹⁵ See — the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are counted as dust on the scales.
See — he lifts up the coastlands like fine powder.

¹⁶ Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor its animals suffice for a burnt offering.

¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are counted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

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

¹⁹ An idol — a craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts silver chains for it.

²⁰ The one too impoverished for such an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹ Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood
from the foundations of the earth?

²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
he stretches out the heavens like a curtain
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.

²³ He brings princes to nothing;
he makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a storm carries them off like stubble.

²⁵ "To whom then will you liken me,
that I should be his equal?"
says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel:
"My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my justice passes over from my God"?

²⁸ Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not grow faint or weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
and to the one who has no might
he increases strength.

³⁰ Even youths grow faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall.

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 grow weary;
they will walk and not grow faint.