Isaiah 40

GOD’S PEOPLE COMFORTED

40“Comfort, comfort my people,”^t

says your God.

²“Speak tenderly to^A Jerusalem,

and announce to her

that her time of hard service is over,

her iniquity^u has been pardoned,^v

and she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.”^w

³A voice of one crying out:

Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;^x

make a straight highway for our God in the desert.^y

⁴Every valley will be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill will be leveled;

the uneven ground will become smooth

and the rough places, a plain.^z

⁵And the glory of the Lord will appear,^aa

and all humanity^A together will see it,^ab

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^ac

⁶A voice was saying, “Cry out!”

Another said,^B “What should I cry out?”

“All humanity is grass,^ad

and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.^a

⁷The grass withers, the flowers fade

when the breath^C of the Lord blows on them;^D

indeed, the people are grass.

⁸The grass withers, the flowers fade,^b

but the word of our God remains forever.”^c

⁹Zion, herald of good news,

go up on a high mountain.^d

Jerusalem, herald of good news,^e

raise your voice loudly.

Raise it, do not be afraid!

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!”^f

¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with strength,

and his power establishes his rule.^g

His wages are with him,^h

and his reward accompanies him.

¹¹He protects his flock like a shepherd;ⁱ

he gathers the lambs in his arms

and carries them in the fold of his garment.

He gently leads those that are nursing.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?^j

Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure

or weighed the mountains on a balance

and the hills on the scales?

¹³Who has directed^E the Spirit of the Lord,

or who gave him counsel?^k

¹⁴Who did he consult?

Who gave him understanding^l

and taught him the paths of justice?

Who taught him knowledge

and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;

he lifts up the islands like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,

or its animals enough for a burnt offering.^m

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him;

they are considered by him

as empty nothingness.ⁿ

¹⁸With whom will you compare God?

What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?^o

¹⁹An idol?—something that a smelter casts

and a metalworker plates with gold

and makes silver chains for?^p

²⁰A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal

that will not rot.^A

He looks for a skilled craftsman

to set up an idol that will not fall over.^q

²¹Do you not know?^r

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you

from the beginning?

Have you not considered

the foundations of the earth?^s

²²God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.^t

He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth^u

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.^v

²³He reduces princes to nothing^w

and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.

²⁴They are barely planted, barely sown,

their stem hardly takes root in the ground

when he blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.^x

²⁵“To whom will you compare me,^y

or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶Look up and see!

Who created^z these?

He brings out the stars by number;

he calls all of them by name.^aa

Because of his great power and strength,

not one of them is missing.

²⁷Jacob, why do you say,

and Israel, why do you assert,

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

and my claim is ignored by my God”?^a

²⁸Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,^b

the Creator of the whole earth.

He never becomes faint or weary;

there is no limit to his understanding.^c

²⁹He gives strength to the faint

and strengthens the powerless.

³⁰Youths may become faint and weary,

and young men stumble and fall,

³¹but those who trust in the Lord

will renew their strength;^d

they will soar on wings like eagles;^e

they will run and not become weary,

they will walk and not faint.