God’s People are Comforted

40 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”

Says your God.

2 “Speak 1comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,

That her warfare is ended,

That her iniquity is pardoned;

aFor she has received from the Lord’s hand

Double for all her sins.”

3 bThe voice of one crying in the wilderness:

c“Prepare the way of the Lord;

dMake straight 2in the desert

A highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill brought low;

eThe crooked places shall be made 3straight

And the rough places smooth;

5 The fglory of the Lord shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together;

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

6 The voice said, “Cry out!”

And 4he said, “What shall I cry?”

g“All flesh is grass,

And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades,

Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades,

But hthe word of our God stands forever.”

9 O Zion,

You who bring good tidings,

Get up into the high mountain;

O Jerusalem,

You who bring good tidings,

Lift up your voice with strength,

Lift it up, be not afraid;

Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord God shall come 5with a strong hand,

And iHis arm shall rule for Him;

Behold, jHis reward is with Him,

And His 6work before Him.

11 He will kfeed His flock like a shepherd;

He will gather the lambs with His arm,

And carry them in His bosom,

And gently lead those who are with young.

12 lWho has measured the 7waters in the hollow of His hand,

Measured heaven with a 8span

And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?

Weighed the mountains in scales

And the hills in a balance?

13 mWho has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or as His counselor has taught Him?

14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,

And ntaught Him in the path of justice?

Who taught Him knowledge,

And showed Him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,

And are counted as the small dust on the scales;

Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.

17 All nations before Him are as onothing,

And pthey are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

18 To whom then will you qliken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

19 rThe workman molds an image,

The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,

And the silversmith casts silver chains.

20 Whoever is too impoverished for such 9a contribution

Chooses a tree that will not rot;

He seeks for himself a skillful workman

sTo prepare a carved image that will not totter.

21 tHave 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?

22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who ustretches out the heavens like a curtain,

And spreads them out like a vtent to dwell in.

23 He 1brings the wprinces to nothing;

He makes the judges of the earth useless.

24 Scarcely shall they be planted,

Scarcely shall they be sown,

Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,

When He will also blow on them,

And they will wither,

And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

25 “To xwhom then will you liken Me,

Or to whom shall I be equal?” 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;

yHe calls them all by name,

By the greatness of His might

And the strength of His power;

Not one is missing.

27 zWhy do you say, O Jacob,

And speak, O Israel:

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

28 Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

aHis understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the weak,

And to those who have no might He increases strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,

And the young men shall utterly fall,

31 But those who bwait on the Lord

cShall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.