Isaiah 40–66

Comfort for God’s People

40^zComfort, comfort my people, says your God.

^2aSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and cry to her

that ^bher warfare¹ is ended,

that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.

^3cA voice cries:²

^d“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

^emake straight in the desert a highway for our God.

^4fEvery valley shall be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain.

^5gAnd the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together,

^hfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Word of God Stands Forever

⁶A voice says, “Cry!”

And I said,³ “What shall I cry?”

ⁱAll flesh is grass,

and all its beauty⁴ is like the flower of the field.

⁷The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

^8jThe grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

The Greatness of God

⁹Go on up to a high mountain,

O Zion, ^kherald of good news;⁵

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;⁶

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

“Behold your God!”

^10lBehold, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

^mbehold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

¹¹ⁿHe will tend his flock like a shepherd;

^ohe will gather the lambs in his arms;

^phe will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

^12qWho has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

^13rWho has measured⁷ the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

¹⁴Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

^sWho taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted ^tas the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up ^uthe coastlands like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are ^vits beasts enough for a burnt offering.

^17wAll the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

^18xTo whom then will you liken God,

^yor what likeness compare with him?

^19yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

^20zHe who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood⁸ that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

^21aDo 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?

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

and its inhabitants are ^blike grasshoppers;

^cwho stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

^23dwho brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

^eand the tempest carries them off like stubble.

^25fTo whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

^gHe 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.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

^h“My way is hidden from the Lord,

ⁱand my right is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is ^jthe everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

^khis understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

³¹but ^lthey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings ^mlike eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41ⁿListen to me in silence, ^oO coastlands;

let the peoples renew their strength;

let them approach, then let them speak;

let us together draw near for judgment.

^2pWho stirred up one from the east

whom victory meets at every ^qstep?¹

^rHe gives up nations before him,

so that he tramples kings underfoot;

he makes them like dust with his sword,

^slike driven stubble with his bow.

³He pursues them and passes on safely,

by paths his feet have not trod.

^4tWho has performed and done this,

calling the generations from the beginning?

^uI, the Lord, the first,

and with the last; I am he.

^5vThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;

the ends of the earth tremble;

they have drawn near and come.

⁶Everyone helps his neighbor

and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

^7wThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,

and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,

saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

and they strengthen it with nails ^xso that it cannot be moved.

⁸But you, Israel, ^ymy servant,

Jacob, ^zwhom I have chosen,

the offspring of Abraham, ^amy friend;

⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

and called ^bfrom its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are ^ymy servant,

^zI have chosen you and not cast you off”;

¹⁰fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with ^cmy righteous right hand.

^11dBehold, all who are incensed against you

shall be put to shame and confounded;

those who strive against you

shall be as nothing and shall perish.

^12eYou shall seek those who contend with you,

but you shall not find them;

^fthose who war against you

shall be as nothing at all.

¹³For I, the Lord your God,

hold your right hand;

it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

I am the one who helps you.”

¹⁴Fear not, you ^gworm Jacob,

you men of Israel!

I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;

your ^hRedeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ⁱBehold, I make of you a threshing sledge,

new, sharp, and having teeth;

you shall thresh ^jthe mountains and crush them,

and you shall make the hills like chaff;

^16kyou shall winnow them, and ^lthe wind shall carry them away,

and the tempest shall scatter them.

^mAnd you shall rejoice in the Lord;

in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

¹⁷ⁿWhen the poor and needy seek water,

and there is none,

and their tongue is parched with thirst,

I the Lord will answer them;

I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

^18oI will open rivers on the bare heights,

and fountains in the midst of the valleys.

^pI will make the wilderness a pool of water,

and the dry land springs of water.

^19qI will put in the wilderness the cedar,

the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.

I will set in the desert ^rthe cypress,

the plane and the pine together,

²⁰that they may see and know,

may consider and understand together,

that ^sthe hand of the Lord has done this,

the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

²¹Set forth your case, says the Lord;

bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

²²Let them bring them, and ^ttell us

what is to happen.

Tell us the former things, what they are,

that we may consider them,

that we may know their outcome;

or declare to us the things to come.

^23tTell us what is to come hereafter,

that we may know that you are gods;

^udo good, or do harm,

that we may be dismayed and terrified.²

²⁴Behold, ^vyou are nothing,

and your work is less than nothing;

an abomination is he who chooses you.

^25wI stirred up one from the north, and he has come,

^xfrom the rising of the sun, ^yand he shall call upon my name;

he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,

as the potter treads clay.

^26zWho declared it from the beginning, that we might know,

and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?

There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,

none who heard your words.

^27aI was the first to say³ to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”

and ^bI give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

^28cBut when I look, there is no one;

among these there is no counselor

who, when I ask, gives an answer.

^29dBehold, they are all a delusion;

their works are nothing;

their metal images are empty wind.

The Lord’s Chosen Servant

42^eBehold ^fmy servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, ^gin whom my soul delights;

^hI have put my Spirit upon him;

ⁱhe will bring forth justice to the nations.

²He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

^3ja bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

^khe will faithfully bring forth justice.

⁴He will not grow faint or be discouraged¹

till he has established justice in the earth;

and ^lthe coastlands wait for his law.

⁵Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens ^mand stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

ⁿwho gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶“I am the Lord; ^oI have called you² in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you ^pas a covenant for the people,

^qa light for the nations,

^7rto open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

^sfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.

⁸I am the Lord; that is my name;

^tmy glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,

^uand new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a New Song

^10vSing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth,

^wyou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

^lthe coastlands and their inhabitants.

¹¹Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that ^xKedar inhabits;

let the habitants of ^ySela sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

¹²Let them give glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in ^lthe coastlands.

^13zThe Lord goes out…