Isaiah 40:18–31

^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.