Isaiah 40–66

CHAPTER 40

The Glory of Yahweh Will Be Revealed

¹“^aComfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.

²“^aSpeak to the heart of Jerusalem;

And call out to her, that her ^1bwarfare has been fulfilled,

That her ^2ciniquity has been removed,

That she has received from the hand of Yahweh

^dDouble for all her sins.”

^3aA voice ¹is calling,

“^bPrepare the way for Yahweh in the wilderness;

Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

⁴“Let every valley be lifted up,

And every mountain and hill be made low;

And let the rough ground become a plain,

And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

⁵¹Then the ^aglory of Yahweh will be revealed,

And ^ball flesh will see it together;

For the ^cmouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

⁶A voice says, “Call out.”

Then ¹he answered, “What shall I call out?”

^aAll flesh is grass, and all its lovingkindness is like the flower of the field.

⁷The ^agrass ¹withers, the flower fades,

²When the ^bbreath of Yahweh blows upon it;

Surely the people are grass.

⁸The grass ¹withers, the flower fades,

But ^athe word of our God stands forever.

⁹Get yourself up on a ^ahigh mountain,

O Zion, bearer of ^bgood news,

Raise up your voice powerfully,

O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;

Raise it up, do not fear.

Say to the ^ccities of Judah,

“^dBehold your God!”

¹⁰Behold, Lord Yahweh will come ^awith strength,

With His ^barm ruling for Him.

Behold, His ^creward is with Him

And His recompense before Him.

¹¹Like a shepherd He will ^ashepherd His flock;

In His arm He will gather the lambs

And carry them in His bosom;

He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

¹²Who has ^ameasured the ¹waters in the hollow of His hand,

And ²encompassed the heavens by the ³span,

And ⁴calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,

And weighed the mountains in a balance

And the hills in a pair of scales?

^13aWho has ¹encompassed the Spirit of Yahweh,

Or as His ^bcounselor has informed Him?

^14aWith whom did He take counsel and who ^bgave Him understanding?

And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge

And made Him know the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the ^anations are like a drop from a bucket,

And are counted as a speck of ^bdust on the scales;

Behold, He lifts up the coastlands like fine dust.

¹⁶Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,

Nor its ^abeasts enough for a burnt offering.

^17aAll the nations are as nothing before Him;

They are counted by Him as non-existent and utterly formless.

^18aTo whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

¹⁹As for the ^agraven images, a craftsman casts it,

A goldsmith ^bplates it with gold,

And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

²⁰He who is too impoverished to make such a contribution

Chooses a ^atree that does not rot;

He seeks out for himself a wise craftsman

To ¹prepare a graven image that ^bwill not be shaken.

^21aDo you not know? Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood ^bfrom the foundations of the earth?

²²It is He who ¹inhabits above the ^2acircle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like ^bgrasshoppers;

It is He who ^cstretches out the heavens like a ^dcurtain

And spreads them out like a ^etent to inhabit.

²³It is He who reduces ^arulers to nothing,

Who ^bmakes the ¹judges of the earth utterly formless.

²⁴¹Scarcely have they been planted;

²Scarcely have they been sown;

³Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

But He merely blows on them, and they ⁴wither,

And the ^astorm carries them away like stubble.

²⁵“^aTo whom then will you liken Me

That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.

^26aLift up your eyes on high

And see ^bwho has created these stars,

The ^cOne who leads forth their host by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the ^dgreatness of His vigor and the ¹strength of His power,

^eNot one of them is missing.

^27aWhy do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,

“My way is ^bhidden from Yahweh,

And the ^cjustice due me passes by ^dmy God”?

^28aDo you not know? Have you not heard?

The ^bEverlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth,

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is ^cunsearchable.

²⁹He gives power to the ^aweary,

And to him who lacks vigor He ^bincreases might.

³⁰Though ^ayouths grow weary and tired,

And choice ^byoung men stumble badly,

³¹Yet those who hope in Yahweh

Will ^again new power;

They will ^1bmount up with ²wings like eagles;

They will run and not get tired;

They will walk and not become weary.

CHAPTER 41

Do Not Fear, for I Am with You

¹“^aCoastlands, listen to Me ^bin silence,

And let the peoples ^cgain new power;

^dLet them come forward, then let them speak;

^eLet us draw near together for judgment.

²“^aWho has awakened one from the east

Whom He ^bcalls in righteousness to His ¹feet?

He ^cgives up nations before him

And ²has dominion over kings.

He makes them like ^ddust with his sword,

As the wind-driven ^echaff with his bow.

³“He pursues them, passing on in peace,

By a way he had not ¹come with his feet.

⁴“^aWho has worked and done it,

Calling forth the generations from the beginning?

‘^bI, Yahweh, am the first; and with the last, ^cI am He.’”

⁵The ^acoastlands have seen and are afraid;

The ^bends of the earth tremble;

They have drawn near and have come.

⁶Each one helps his neighbor

And says to his brother, “Be strong!”

⁷So the ^acraftsman strengthens the ^bsmelter,

And he who smooths metal with the hammer strengthens him who beats the anvil,

Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

And he strengthens it with nails,

^cSo that it will not be shaken.

⁸“But you, Israel, ^aMy servant,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

Seed of ^bAbraham My ^cfriend,

⁹You whom I have ^1astrongly taken hold of from the ends of the earth,

And called from its ^bremotest parts

And said to you, ‘You are ^cMy servant,

I have ^dchosen you and not rejected you.

¹⁰‘Do not ^afear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will make you mighty, surely ^bI will help you;

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous ^cright hand.’

¹¹“Behold, ^aall those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;

^bThose who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.

¹²“^aYou will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,

Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.

¹³“For I am Yahweh your God, ^awho ¹strongly takes hold of your right hand,

Who says to you, ‘^bDo not fear, I will help you.’

¹⁴“Do not fear, you ^aworm Jacob, you men of Israel;

I will help you,” declares Yahweh, “¹and ^byour Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵“Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;

^aYou will thresh the ^bmountains and pulverize them,

And will make the hills like chaff.

¹⁶“You will ^awinnow them, and the wind will carry them away,

And the storm will scatter them;

But you will ^brejoice in Yahweh;

You will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷“The ¹afflicted and needy are seeking ^awater, but there is none,

And their tongue is parched with thirst;

I, Yahweh, ^bwill answer them Myself,

As the God of Israel I ^cwill not forsake them.

¹⁸“I will open ^arivers on the bare heights

And springs in the midst of the valleys;

I will make ^bthe wilderness a pool of water

And the dry land fountains of water.

¹⁹“I will put the cedar in the wilderness,

The acacia and the ^amyrtle and the ¹olive tree;

I will place the ^bjuniper in the desert

Together with the box tree and the cypress,

²⁰That ^athey may see and know,

And establish and gain insight as well,

That the ^bhand of Yahweh has done this,

And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹“Bring near your case,” Yahweh says.

“Bring forward your mighty arguments,”

The ^aKing of Jacob says.

^22aLet them bring it forth and declare to us what is going to take place;

As for the ^bformer events, declare what they were,

That we may establish our heart on them and know their outcome.

Or cause us to hear of what is coming;

^23aDeclare the things that are to come afterward,

That we may know that you are gods;

Indeed, ^bdo good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

²⁴Behold, ^ayou are nothing,

And ^byour work is non-existent;

He who chooses you is an ^cabomination.

²⁵“I have awakened ^aone from the north, and he has come;

From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;

And he will come upon officials as upon ^bmortar,

Even as the potter treads clay.”

²⁶Who has ^adeclared this from the beginning, that we might know?

Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?

Surely there was ^bno one who declared;

Surely there was no one who caused those words to be heard;

Surely there was no one who heard your words.

²⁷“^aFormerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’

And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a ^bmessenger of good news.’

²⁸“But ^aI look, and there is no one,

And there is no ^bcounselor ¹among them

Who, if I ask, can ^crespond with a word.

²⁹“Behold, all of them are ¹false;

Their ^aworks are ^bnon-existent;

Their molten images are ^cwind and utter formlessness.

CHAPTER 42

Yahweh’s Chosen Servant

¹“^aBehold, My ^bServant, whom I ¹uphold;

My ^cchosen one in whom My ^dsoul is well-pleased.

I have put My ^eSpirit upon Him;

He will bring forth ^fjustice to the ²nations.

²“He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

³“A crushed reed He will not break

And a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will bring forth ^ajustice in truth.

⁴“He will not be ^afaint or crushed

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the ^bcoastlands will wait expectantly for His ¹law.”

⁵Thus says the God, Yahweh,

Who ^acreated the heavens and ^bstretched them out,

Who spread out the ^cearth and its ¹offspring,

Who ^dgives breath to the people on it

And spirit to those who walk in it,

⁶“I am Yahweh, I have ^acalled You in righteousness;

I will also ^btake hold of You by the hand and ^cguard You,

And I will give You as a ^dcovenant to the people,

As a ^elight to the nations,

⁷To ^aopen blind eyes,

To ^bbring out prisoners from the dungeon

And those who inhabit darkness from the prison.

⁸“^aI am Yahweh, that is ^bMy name;

I will not give My ^cglory to another,

Nor My praise to …