Isaiah 40

God’s People Comforted

40“Comfort, comfort My people,” ^m

says your God.

²“Speak tenderly to ⁿJerusalem,

and announce to her

that her time of forced labor is over,

her iniquity ^ohas been pardoned, ^p

and she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.” ^q

³A voice of one crying out:

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

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

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. ^t

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

and all humanity ^vtogether will see it, ^w

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. ^x

⁶A voice was saying, “Cry out!”

Another ^ysaid, “What should I cry out?”

“All humanity is grass, ^z

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

⁷The grass withers, the flowers fade

when the breath ^bof the Lord blows on them; ^c

indeed, the people are grass.

⁸The grass withers, the flowers fade, ^d

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

⁹Zion, herald of good news,

go up on a high mountain. ^f

Jerusalem, herald of good news, ^g

raise your voice loudly.

Raise it, do not be afraid!

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!” ^h

¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with strength,

and His power establishes His rule. ⁱ

His reward is with Him, ^j

and His gifts accompany Him.

¹¹He protects His flock like a shepherd; ^k

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? ^l

Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure

or weighed the mountains in a balance

and the hills in the scales?

¹³Who has directed ^mthe Spirit of the Lord,

or who gave Him His counsel? ⁿ

¹⁴Who did He consult with?

Who gave Him understanding ^o

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 in the scales;

He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon is not enough for fuel,

or its animals enough for a burnt offering. ^p

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before Him;

they are considered by Him

as nothingness and emptiness. ^q

¹⁸Who will you compare God with?

What likeness will you compare Him to? ^r

¹⁹To an idol?—something that a smelter casts,

and a metalworker plates with gold

and makes silver welds for it? ^s

²⁰To one who shapes a pedestal,

choosing wood that does not rot? ^t

He looks for a skilled craftsman

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

²¹Do you not know? ^v

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you

from the beginning?

Have you not considered

the foundations of the earth? ^w

²²God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. ^x

He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth ^y

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

²³He reduces princes to nothing ^a

and makes judges of the earth irrational.

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. ^b

²⁵“Who will you compare Me to, ^c

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

²⁶Look up ^dand see:

who created ^ethese?

He brings out the starry host by number;

He calls all of them by name. ^f

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”? ^g

²⁸Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Yahweh is the everlasting God, ^h

the Creator of the whole earth.

He never grows faint or weary;

there is no limit to His understanding. ⁱ

²⁹He gives strength to the weary

and strengthens the powerless.

³⁰Youths may faint and grow weary,

and young men stumble and fall,

³¹but those who trust in the Lord

will renew their strength; ^j

they will soar on wings like eagles; ^k

they will run and not grow weary;

they will walk and not faint.