Isaiah 40–66

Chapter 40

The Greatness of God

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

²“^aSpeak ¹kindly to Jerusalem;

And call out to her, that her ^2bwarfare has ended,

That her ^3ciniquity has been removed,

That she has received of the Lord’s hand

^dDouble for all her sins.”

^3aA voice ¹is calling,

“^bClear the way for the Lord 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 the Lord will be revealed,

And ^ball flesh will see it together;

For the ^cmouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶A voice says, “Call out.”

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

^aAll flesh is grass, and all its ²loveliness is like the flower of the field.

⁷The ^agrass withers, the flower fades,

¹When the ^bbreath of the Lord blows upon it;

Surely the people are grass.

⁸The grass withers, the flower fades,

But ^athe word of our God stands forever.

⁹Get yourself up on a ^ahigh mountain,

O Zion, bearer of ^bgood news,

Lift up your voice mightily,

O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;

Lift it up, do not fear.

Say to the ^ccities of Judah,

“^dHere is your God!”

¹⁰Behold, the Lord ¹God will come ^awith might,

With His ^barm ruling for Him.

Behold, His ^creward is with Him

And His recompense before Him.

¹¹Like a shepherd He will ^atend 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 marked off the heavens by the ²span,

And ³calculated 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 ¹directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or as His ^bcounselor has informed Him?

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

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

And informed Him of the way of understanding?

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

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

Behold, He lifts up the ¹islands 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 regarded by Him as less than nothing and ¹meaningless.

^18aTo whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

¹⁹As for the ^1aidol, a craftsman casts it,

A goldsmith ^bplates it with gold,

And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

²⁰He who is too impoverished for such an offering

Selects a ^atree that does not rot;

He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman

To ¹prepare ²an idol that ^bwill not totter.

^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 ¹sits above the ^2acircle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like ^bgrasshoppers,

Who ^cstretches out the heavens like a ^dcurtain

And spreads them out like a ^etent to dwell in.

²³He it is who reduces ^arulers to nothing,

Who ^bmakes the judges of the earth ¹meaningless.

²⁴¹Scarcely have they been planted,

Scarcely have they been sown,

Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,

But He merely blows on them, and they wither,

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 might 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 the Lord,

And the ^cjustice due me ¹escapes the notice of ^dmy God”?

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

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

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is ^cinscrutable.

²⁹He gives strength to the ^aweary,

And to him who lacks might He ^bincreases power.

³⁰Though ^ayouths grow weary and tired,

And vigorous ^byoung men stumble badly,

³¹Yet those who ¹wait for the Lord

Will ^again new strength;

They will ^2bmount up with ³wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

Chapter 41

Israel Encouraged

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

And let the peoples ^cgain new strength;

^dLet them come forward, then let them speak;

^eLet us come together for judgment.

²“^aWho has aroused one from the east

Whom He ^bcalls in righteousness to His ¹feet?

He ^cdelivers up nations before him

And subdues kings.

He makes them like ^ddust with his sword,

As the wind-driven ^echaff with his bow.

³“He pursues them, passing on in safety,

By a way he had not been ¹traversing with his feet.

⁴“^aWho has performed and accomplished it,

Calling forth the generations from the beginning?

‘^bI, the Lord, 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 encourages the ^bsmelter,

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

Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

And he fastens it with nails,

^cSo that it will not totter.

⁸“But you, Israel, ^aMy servant,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

Descendant of ^bAbraham My ^cfriend,

⁹You whom I have ^1ataken 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 strengthen you, 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 the Lord your God, ^awho upholds 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 the Lord, “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 the Lord,

You will glory 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, the Lord, ^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 juniper in the desert

Together with the box tree and the cypress,

²⁰That ^athey may see and recognize,

And consider and gain insight as well,

That the ^bhand of the Lord has done this,

And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹“¹Present your case,” the Lord says.

“Bring forward your strong arguments,”

The ^aKing of Jacob says.

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

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

That we may consider them and know their outcome.

Or announce to us what is coming;

^23aDeclare the things that are going 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 of ¹no account,

And ^byour work amounts to nothing;

He who chooses you is an ^cabomination.

²⁵“I have aroused ^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 rulers 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 proclaimed,

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 ^awhen I look, there is no one,

And there is no ^bcounselor ¹among them

Who, if I ask, can ^cgive an answer.

²⁹“Behold, all of them are ¹false;

Their ^aworks are ^bworthless,

Their molten images are ^cwind and emptiness.

Chapter 42

God’s Promise concerning His Servant

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

My ^cchosen one in whom My ^dsoul delights.

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 bruised reed He will not break

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth ^ajustice.

⁴“He will not be ^adisheartened or crushed

Until He has established justice in the earth;

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

⁵Thus says God the Lord,

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 the Lord, I have ^acalled You in righteousness,

I will also ^bhold You by the hand and ^cwatch over You,

And I will appoint 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 dwell in darkness from the prison.

⁸“^aI am the Lord, that is ^bMy name;

I will not give My ^cglory to another,

Nor My praise to ¹graven images.

⁹“Behold, the ^aformer things have come to pass,

Now I declare ^bnew things;

Before they spring…