Isaiah 40:18–31

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.