Isaiah 40:6–31

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.