Isaiah 40:18–31

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.