Isaiah 40–48
40 aComfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye †comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
That her ||warfare is accomplished,
That her iniquity is pardoned:
For she hath received of the Lord’s hand bdouble for all her sins.
3 cThe voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, dPrepare ye the way of the Lord,
eMake straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 fEvery valley shall be exalted,
And egevery mountain and hill shall be made low:
And hthe crooked shall be made ||straight,
And the rough places ||plain:
5 And ithe glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
kAnd all flesh shall see it together:
lFor the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
And he said, What shall I cry?
And all the goodliness thereof is as opthe flower of the field:
7 mqThe grass withereth, othe flower fadeth:
Because rthe spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it:
8 mThe grass withereth, the flower fadeth:
tBut uthe word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 ||O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain;
||O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength;
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the Lord God will come ||wwith strong hand,
And xhis arm shall rule for him:
yBehold, his reward is with him,
11 zHe shall afeed his flock like a shepherd:
bHe shall gather athe lambs with his arm,
And ccarry them in his bosom,
And dshall gently lead those ||that are with young.
12 eWho hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
And imeted out heaven with the span,
And comprehended the dust of the earth in †a measure,
And fweighed the mountains in gscales,
And the hills in ga balance?
13 hWho hath idirected the Spirit of the Lord,
jOr being †his counseller hath taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who †instructed him,
And taught him in the path of judgment,
And ktaught him knowledge,
And shewed to him the way of †understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,
And are counted as lthe small dust of the balance:
Behold, he taketh up mthe isles nas a very little thing.
16 And oLebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor pthe beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are qas rnothing;
And qthey are counted to him less than rnothing, and svanity.
18 tTo whom then will ye liken God?
Or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19 uThe workman melteth a graven image,
And xthe goldsmith yspreadeth it over with gold,
And casteth silver chains.
20 He that †is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot;
He seeketh unto him a cunning workman
To prepare a graven image, zthat shall not be moved.
21 aHave ye not known? have ye not heard?
Hath it not been told you from the beginning?
aHave ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 ||It is he that sitteth upon bthe circle of the earth,
And the inhabitants thereof are cas grasshoppers;
dThat stretcheth out the heavens eas a curtain,
And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 fThat bringeth the princes to gnothing;
He maketh the judges of the earth as gvanity.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted;
Yea, they shall not be sown:
Yea, their hstock shall not take root in the earth:
And he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither,
And ithe whirlwind shall take them away kas stubble.
25 lTo whom then will ye mliken me, or mshall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
26 mmLift up your eyes on high,
And behold who hath created these things,
nThat bringeth out their host by number:
oHe calleth them all by names
By pthe greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power;
qNot one faileth.
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel,
rMy way is hid from the Lord,
And smy judgment is passed over from my God?
28 aHast thou not known? ahast thou not heard,
That the everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Fainteth not, neither is weary?
ptThere is no searching of his understanding.
29 He giveth power to the faint;
And to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But uthey that wait upon the Lord vwshall †renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings wxas eagles;
They shall run, and not be weary;
And they shall walk, and not faint.
41 aKeep silence before me, O bislands;
And clet the people renew their strength:
Let them come near; then let them speak:
Let us come near together to judgment.
2 dWho raised up †the righteous man efrom the east,
Called him fto his foot,
ffGave the nations before him, and gmade him rule over kings?
He hgave them as the dust to his sword,
And as idriven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursued them, and passed †safely;
Even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
4 kWho hath wrought and done it,
Calling the generations from the beginning?
I the Lord, lthe first,
And with the last; mI am he.
5 nThe isles saw it, and feared;
The ends of the earth were afraid,
Drew near, and came.
6 They helped every one his neighbour;
And every one said to his brother, †Be of good courage.
7 oSo the carpenter encouraged the ||goldsmith,
And he that smootheth with the hammer ||him that smote the anvil,
||Saying, It is ready for the sodering:
And he fastened it with nails, pthat it should not be moved.
8 But thou, qIsrael, art rmy servant,
Jacob rrwhom I have chosen,
The seed of sAbraham my friend.
9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called thee from tthe chief men thereof,
And said unto thee, rThou art my servant;
I rrhave chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 uFear thou not; vfor I am with thee:
wBe not dismayed; for I am thy God:
vI will strengthen thee; yea, uI will help thee;
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11 Behold, all xthey that were incensed against thee shall be xashamed and confounded:
yThey shall be as nothing; and †they that strive with thee shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even †them that contended with thee:
†They that war against thee shall be zas nothing, and zas a thing of nought.
13 For I the Lord thy God zzwill hold thy right hand,
Saying unto thee, uFear not; uI will help thee.
14 uFear not, athou worm Jacob, and ye ||men of Israel;
aI will help thee, saith the Lord,
And bthy redeemer, cthe Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, dI will make thee a new esharp fthreshing instrument having †teeth:
dThou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
And shalt make the hills as chaff.
16 Thou shalt gfan them, and the wind shall carry them away,
And the whirlwind shall scatter them:
And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,
And hshalt glory in cthe Holy One of Israel.
17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none,
And their tongue ifaileth for thirst,
I the Lord will hear them,
I kthe God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 lI will open rivers in mhigh places,
And fountains in the midst of nthe valleys:
oI will make the pwilderness a pool of water,
And opthe dry land springs of water.
19 ppI will plant in the wilderness the cedar, qthe shittah tree, and the myrtle, and rthe oil tree;
I will set in the desert sthe fir tree, and sthe pine, and the box tree together:
20 tThat they may see, and know, and uconsider, and understand together,
That the hand of the Lord hath done this,
And the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
21 †Produce your cause, saith the Lord;
Bring forth your vstrong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
22 wLet them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen:
Let them shew xthe former things, what they be,
That we may †consider them, and know the latter end of them;
Or declare us things for to come.
23 yShew the things that are to come yyhereafter,
zThat we may know that ye are gods:
Yea, ado good, or do evil,
That we may bbe dismayed, and behold it together.
24 Behold, cye are ||of nothing, and your work ||of nought:
An abomination is he that chooseth you.
25 dI have raised up one efrom the north, and he shall come:
dFrom the rising of the sun fshall he call upon my name:
And he shall come upon princes as upon morter,
And as the potter treadeth clay.
26 gWho hath declared from the beginning, that we may know?
And beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous?
Yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth,
Yea, there is none that heareth your words.
27 hThe first ishall say to Zion, Behold, behold them:
And I will give to Jerusalem ione that bringeth good tidings.
28 kFor I beheld, and there was no man;
Even among them, and there was no counseller,
That, when I asked of them, could †answer a word.
29 lBehold, they are all vanity; their works are mnothing:
Their molten images are wind and confusion.
42 aBehold bcmy servant, whom I uphold;
cMine elect, in whom dmy soul delighteth;
eI have put my spirit upon him:
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up,
Nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A fbruised reed shall he not break,
And the ||smoking flax shall he not †quench:
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not fail nor be †discouraged,
Till he have set judgment in the earth:
gAnd the isles shall wait for his law.
He that created the heavens, and histretched them out;
hkHe that spread forth the earth, and lthat which cometh out of it;
imHe that giveth breath unto the people upon it,
And nspirit to them that walk therein:
6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness,
And owill hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
And pgive thee for a covenant of the people, qfor a light of the Gentiles;
7 rTo open the blind eyes,
To sbring out the prisoners from the prison,
And tthem that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the Lord: that is my name:
uAnd my glory will I not give to vanother,
Neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, wthe former things are come to pass,
And xnew things do I declare:
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 ySing unto the Lord a new song,
And his praise from the end of the earth,
zYe that go down to the sea, and †all that is therein;
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