39At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan was king of Babylon. He sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and was now well. ²Hezekiah was pleased and showed the messengers what was in his storehouses: the silver, gold, spices, expensive perfumes, his swords and shields, and all his wealth. He showed them everything in his palace and in his kingdom.

³Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from?”

Hezekiah said, “They came from a faraway country—from Babylon.”

⁴So Isaiah asked him, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my palace. I showed them all my wealth.”

⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah: “Listen to the words of the Lord All-Powerful: ⁶‘In the future everything in your palace and everything your ancestors have stored up until this day will be taken away to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ⁷Some of your own children, those who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become servants in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸Hezekiah told Isaiah, “These words from the Lord are good.” He said this because he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

Israel’s Punishment Will End

40Your God says,

“Comfort, comfort my people.

²Speak kindly to the people of Jerusalem

and tell them

that their time of service is finished,

that they have paid for their sins,

that the Lord has punished Jerusalem

twice for every sin they did.”

³This is the voice of one who calls out:

“Prepare in the desert

the way for the Lord.

Make a straight road in the dry lands

for our God.

⁴Every valley should be raised up,

and every mountain and hill should be made flat.

The rough ground should be made level,

and the rugged ground should be made smooth.

⁵Then the glory of the Lord will be shown,

and all people together will see it.

The Lord himself said these things.”

⁶A voice says, “Cry out!”

Then I said, “What shall I cry out?”

“Say all people are like the grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

⁷The grass dies and the flowers fall

when the breath of the Lord blows on them.

Surely the people are like grass.

⁸The grass dies and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God will live forever.”

⁹Jerusalem, you have good news to tell.

Go up on a high mountain.

Jerusalem, you have good news to tell.

Shout out loud the good news.

Shout it out and don’t be afraid.

Say to the towns of Judah,

“Here is your God.”

¹⁰Look, the Lord God is coming with power

to rule all the people.

Look, he will bring reward for his people;

he will have their payment with him.

¹¹He takes care of his people like a shepherd.

He gathers them like lambs in his arms

and carries them close to him.

He gently leads the mothers of the lambs.

God Is Supreme

¹²Who has measured the oceans in the palm of his hand?

Who has used his hand to measure the sky?

Who has used a bowl to measure all the dust of the earth

and scales to weigh the mountains and hills?

¹³Who has known the mind of the Lord

or been able to give him advice?

¹⁴Whom did he ask for help?

Who taught him the right way?

Who taught him knowledge

and showed him the way to understanding?

¹⁵The nations are like one small drop in a bucket;

they are no more than the dust on his measuring scales.

To him the islands are no more than fine dust on his scales.

¹⁶All the trees in Lebanon are not enough for the altar fires,

and all the animals in Lebanon are not enough for burnt offerings.

¹⁷Compared to the Lord all the nations are worth nothing;

to him they are less than nothing.

¹⁸Can you compare God to anything?

Can you compare him to an image of anything?

¹⁹An idol is formed by a craftsman,

and a goldsmith covers it with gold

and makes silver chains for it.

²⁰A poor person cannot buy those expensive statues,

so he finds a tree that will not rot.

Then he finds a skilled craftsman

to make it into an idol that will not fall over.

²¹Surely you know. Surely you have heard.

Surely from the beginning someone told you.

Surely you understand how the earth was created.

²²God sits on his throne above the circle of the earth,

and compared to him, people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the skies like a piece of cloth

and spreads them out like a tent to sit under.

²³He makes rulers unimportant

and the judges of this world worth nothing.

²⁴They are like plants that are placed in the ground,

like seeds that are planted.

As soon as they begin to grow strong,

he blows on them and they die,

and the wind blows them away like chaff.

²⁵God, the Holy One, says, “Can you compare me to anyone?

Is anyone equal to me?”

²⁶Look up to the skies.

Who created all these stars?

He leads out the army of heaven one by one

and calls all the stars by name.

Because he is strong and powerful,

not one of them is missing.

²⁷People of Jacob, why do you complain?

People of Israel, why do you say,

“The Lord does not see what happens to me;

he does not care if I am treated fairly”?

²⁸Surely you know.

Surely you have heard.

The Lord is the God who lives forever,

who created all the world.

He does not become tired or need to rest.

No one can understand how great his wisdom is.

²⁹He gives strength to those who are tired

and more power to those who are weak.

³⁰Even children become tired and need to rest,

and young people trip and fall.

³¹But the people who trust the Lord will become strong again.

They will rise up as an eagle in the sky;

they will run and not need rest;

they will walk and not become tired.

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