Isaiah 40:18–31

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.