Isaiah 40–66

40TH CHAPTER

Comfort My People

¹“Comfort my people! Comfort them!” says your God. 

²“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to it 

that its time of hard labor is over 

and its wrongs have been paid for. 

It has received from the Lord double for all its sins.” 

³A voice cries out in the desert: 

“Clear a way for the Lord. 

Make a straight highway in the wilderness for our God. 

⁴Every valley will be raised. 

Every mountain and hill will be lowered. 

Steep places will be made level. 

Rough places will be made smooth. 

⁵Then the Lord’s glory will be revealed 

and all people will see it together. 

The Lord has spoken.” 

⁶A voice called, “Call out!” 

I asked, “What should I call out?” 

“Call out: All people are like grass, 

and all their beauty is like a flower in the field. 

⁷Grass dries up, 

and flowers wither when the Lord’s breath blows on them. 

Yes, people are like grass. 

⁸Grass dries up, 

and flowers wither, 

but our God’s word will last forever.” 

⁹Go up a high mountain, Zion. 

Tell the good news! 

Call out with a loud voice, Jerusalem. 

Tell the good news! 

Raise your voice without fear. 

Tell the cities of Judah: 

“Here is your God!” 

¹⁰The Almighty Lord is coming with power 

to rule with authority. 

His reward is with him, 

and the people he has won arrive ahead of him. 

¹¹Like a shepherd he takes care of his flock. 

He gathers the lambs in his arms. 

He carries them in his arms. 

He gently helps the sheep and their lambs. 

God Gives Strength to Those Who Depend on Him

¹²Who has measured the water of the sea^awith the palm of his hand 

or measured the sky with the length of his hand? 

Who has held the dust of the earth in a bushel basket 

or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills on a balance? 

¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord 

or instructed him as his adviser? 

¹⁴Whom did he consult? 

Who gave him understanding? 

Who taught him the right way? 

Who taught him knowledge? 

Who informed him about the way to understanding? 

¹⁵The nations are like a drop in a bucket 

and are considered to be like dust on a scale. 

The weight of the islands is like fine dust. 

¹⁶All the trees in Lebanon are not enough to burn an offering. 

Its wild animals are not enough for a single burnt offering. 

¹⁷All the nations amount to nothing in his presence. 

He considers them less than nothing and worthless. 

¹⁸To whom, then, can you compare God? 

To what statue can you compare him? 

¹⁹Craftsmen make idols. 

Goldsmiths cover them with gold. 

Silversmiths make silver chains for them. 

²⁰The poorest people choose wood that will not rot 

and search out skillful craftsmen 

to set up idols that will not fall over. 

²¹Don’t you know? 

Haven’t you heard? 

Haven’t you been told from the beginning? 

Don’t you understand the foundations of the earth? 

²²God is enthroned above the earth, 

and those who live on it are like grasshoppers. 

He stretches out the sky like a canopy 

and spreads it out like a tent to live in. 

²³He makes rulers unimportant 

and makes earthly judges worth nothing. 

²⁴They have hardly been planted. 

They have hardly been sown. 

They have hardly taken root in the ground. 

Then he blows on them and they wither, 

and a windstorm sweeps them away like straw. 

²⁵“To whom, then, can you compare me? 

Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. 

²⁶Look at the sky and see. 

Who created these things? 

Who brings out the stars one by one? 

He calls them all by name. 

Because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power, 

not one of them is missing. 

²⁷Jacob, why do you complain? 

Israel, why do you say, 

“My way is hidden from the Lord, 

and my rights are ignored by my God”? 

²⁸Don’t you know? 

Haven’t you heard? 

The eternal God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, 

doesn’t grow tired or become weary. 

His understanding is beyond reach. 

²⁹He gives strength to those who grow tired 

and increases the strength of those who are weak. 

³⁰Even young people grow tired and become weary, 

and young men will stumble and fall. 

³¹Yet, the strength of those who wait with hope in the Lord 

will be renewed. 

They will soar on wings like eagles. 

They will run and won’t become weary. 

They will walk and won’t grow tired. 

41ST CHAPTER

The Nations Chose Idols, but the Lord Chose Israel

¹“Be silent and listen to me, you coastlands. 

Let the people gain new strength. 

Let them come near and speak. 

Let us come together for judgment. 

²“Who has raised up from the east 

someone to whom the Lord gives victory with every step he takes? 

Nations are handed over to him. 

He defeats kings. 

With his sword he turns them into dust. 

With his bow he turns them into straw blown by the wind. 

³He chases them, marching by safely 

on a path his feet have never traveled before. 

⁴Who has accomplished this? 

Who has determined the course of history from the beginning? 

I, the Lord, was there first, and I will be there to the end. 

I am the one!” 

⁵The coastlands have seen him and are afraid. 

The ends of the earth tremble. 

They have come near and gathered together. 

⁶People help their neighbors 

and say to their relatives, “Be brave!” 

⁷Craftsmen encourage goldsmiths. 

Metalsmiths encourage blacksmiths who work at their anvils. 

They say that their soldering is good. 

And they fasten things with nails so they won’t move. 

⁸“But you are my servant Israel, 

Jacob, whom I have chosen, 

the descendant of Abraham, my dear friend. 

⁹I have taken you from the ends of the earth 

and called you from its most distant places. 

I said to you, ‘You are my servant. 

I’ve chosen you; I haven’t rejected you.’ 

¹⁰Don’t be afraid, because I am with you. 

Don’t be intimidated; I am your God. 

I will strengthen you. 

I will help you. 

I will support you with my victorious right hand. 

¹¹“Everyone who is angry with you 

will be ashamed and disgraced. 

Those who oppose you 

will be reduced to nothing and disappear. 

¹²You will search for your enemies, 

but you will not find them. 

Those who are at war with you 

will be reduced to nothing and no longer exist. 

¹³I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand 

and say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid; I will help you.’ 

¹⁴Don’t be afraid, Jacob, you worm. 

You people of Israel, I will help you,” 

declares the Lord, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel. 

¹⁵“I am going to make you into a new threshing^asledge 

with sharp, double-edged teeth. 

You will thresh the mountains and crush them to dust. 

You will turn the hills into straw. 

¹⁶You will winnow^bthem. 

The wind will carry them away. 

The windstorm will scatter them. 

But you will find joy in the Lord 

and praise the Holy One of Israel. 

¹⁷“The poor and needy are looking for water, but there is none. 

Their tongues are parched with thirst. 

I, the Lord, will answer them. 

I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them. 

¹⁸I will make rivers flow on bare hilltops. 

I will make springs flow through valleys. 

I will turn deserts into lakes. 

I will turn dry land into springs. 

¹⁹I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and wild olive trees in the desert. 

I will place cedar, fir, and cypress trees together in the wilderness. 

²⁰People will see and know. 

Together they will consider and understand 

that the Lord’s power has done this, 

that the Holy One of Israel has created it. 

²¹“Present your case,” says the Lord. 

“Bring forward your best arguments,” says Jacob’s king. 

²²“Bring ⸤your idols⸥ so they can tell us what’s going to happen. 

Explain past events that your idols told you about 

so that we may consider them 

and know what their outcome will be. 

Tell us about future events. 

²³Tell us what’s going to happen 

so that we may know that you are gods. 

Yes, do something, good or evil, 

to intimidate us and make us afraid. 

²⁴You are nothing! 

You can’t do anything! 

Whoever chooses you is disgusting. 

²⁵“I have raised up someone from the north, and he has come. 

He will call on my name from the east. 

He will attack rulers as if they were mud, 

as if he were treading on clay like a potter. 

²⁶Who revealed this from the beginning so that we could know it? 

Who revealed this from the past so that we could say that he was right? 

No one revealed it. 

No one announced it. 

No one heard your words. 

²⁷I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are.’ 

I gave Jerusalem a messenger with the good news. 

²⁸When I look, there is no one. 

There is no one to advise them. 

When I ask them a question, 

will they give an answer? 

²⁹All of them are nothing.^c

They can’t do anything. 

Their statues are nothing but air.” 

42ND CHAPTER

The Lord’s Servant Will Bring Righteousness to the World

¹Here is my servant, whom I support. 

Here is my chosen one, with whom I am pleased. 

I have put my Spirit on him. 

He will bring justice to the nations. 

²He will not cry out or raise ⸤his voice⸥. 

He will not make his voice heard in the streets. 

³He will not break off a damaged cattail. 

He will not even put out a smoking wick. 

He will faithfully bring about justice. 

⁴He will not be discouraged or crushed 

until he has set up justice on the earth. 

The coastlands will wait for his teachings. 

⁵The Lord God created the heavens and stretched them out. 

He shaped the earth and all that comes from it. 

He gave life to the people who are on it 

and breath to those who walk on it. 

This is what the Lord God says: 

⁶I, the Lord, have called you to do what is right. 

I will take hold of your hand. 

I will protect you. 

I will appoint you as my promise^ato the people, 

as my light to the nations. 

⁷You will give sight to the blind, 

bring prisoners out of prisons, 

and bring those who live in darkness 

out of dungeons. 

⁸I am the Lord; that is my name. 

I will not give my glory to anyone else 

or the praise I deserve to idols. 

⁹What I said in the past has come true. 

I will reveal new things before they happen. 

A Song about the Lord, the Warrior

¹⁰Sing a new song to the Lord. 

Sing his praise from the ends of the earth, 

you people who sail on the seas 

and all the creatures that live in them, 

you coastlands and all who live on them. 

¹¹Let those who live in the desert and its cities raise their voices. 

Let those who live in the settlements of Kedar praise him. 

Let those…