Isaiah 40–66

God Comforts His People

40“Comfort my people,” says your God.

“Comfort them.

²Speak tenderly to the people of Jerusalem.

Announce to them

that their hard service has been completed.

Tell them that their sin has been paid for.

Tell them I have punished them enough

for all of their sins.”

³A messenger is calling out,

“In the desert prepare

the way for the Lord.

Make a straight road through it

for our God.

⁴Every valley will be filled in.

Every mountain and hill will be made level.

The rough ground will be smoothed out.

The rocky places will be made flat.

⁵Then the glory of the Lord will appear.

And everyone will see it.

The Lord has spoken.”

⁶Another messenger says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What should I cry?”

“Cry out, ‘All people are like grass.

They don’t last any longer than flowers in the field.

⁷The grass dries up. The flowers fall to the ground.

That happens when the Lord makes his wind blow on them.

So people are just like grass.

⁸The grass dries up. The flowers fall to the ground.

But what our God says will stand forever.’ ”

⁹Zion, you are bringing good news to your people.

Go up on a high mountain and announce it.

Jerusalem, you are bringing good news to them.

Shout the message loudly.

Shout it out loud. Don’t be afraid.

Say to the towns of Judah,

“Your God is coming!”

¹⁰The Lord and King is coming with power.

His powerful arm will rule for him.

He has set his people free.

He is bringing them back as his reward.

He has won the battle over their enemies.

¹¹He takes care of his flock like a shepherd.

He gathers the lambs in his arms.

He carries them close to his heart.

He gently leads those that have little ones.

¹²Who has measured the oceans by using the palm of his hand?

Who has used the width of his hand to mark off the sky?

Who has measured out the dust of the earth in a basket?

Who has weighed the mountains on scales?

Who has weighed the hills in a balance?

¹³Who can ever understand what is in the Lord’s mind?

Who can ever give him advice?

¹⁴Did the Lord have to ask anyone to help him understand?

Did he have to ask someone to teach him the right way?

Who taught him what he knows?

Who showed him how to understand?

¹⁵The nations are only a drop in a bucket to him.

He considers them as nothing but dust on the scales.

He weighs the islands as if they were only fine dust.

¹⁶Lebanon doesn’t have enough trees to keep his altar fires burning.

It doesn’t have enough animals to sacrifice as burnt offerings to him.

¹⁷To him, all of the nations don’t amount to anything.

He considers them to be worthless.

In fact, they are less than nothing in his sight.

¹⁸So who will you compare God to?

Is there any other god like him?

¹⁹Will you compare him to a statue of a god?

Any skilled worker can make a statue.

Then another worker covers it with gold

and makes silver chains for it.

²⁰But someone who is too poor to bring that kind of offering

will choose some wood that won’t rot.

Then he looks for a skilled worker.

He pays the worker to make a statue of a god that won’t fall over.

²¹Don’t you know who made everything?

Haven’t you heard about him?

Hasn’t it been told to you from the beginning?

Haven’t you understood it ever since the earth was made?

²²God sits on his throne high above the earth.

Its people look like grasshoppers to him.

He spreads the heavens out like a cover.

He sets it up like a tent to live in.

²³He takes the power of princes away from them.

He reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

²⁴They are planted.

They are scattered like seeds.

They put down roots in the ground.

But as soon as that happens, God blows on them and they dry up.

Then a windstorm sweeps them away like straw.

²⁵“So who will you compare me to?

Who is equal to me?” says the Holy One.

²⁶Look up toward the sky.

Who created everything you see?

The Lord causes the stars to come out at night one by one.

He gives each one of them a name.

His power and strength are great.

So none of the stars is missing.

²⁷Family of Jacob, why do you say,

“The Lord doesn’t notice our condition”?

People of Israel, why do you say,

“Our God doesn’t pay any attention to our rightful claims”?

²⁸Don’t you know who made everything?

Haven’t you heard about him?

The Lord is the God who lives forever.

He created everything on earth.

He won’t become worn out or get tired.

No one will ever know how great his understanding is.

²⁹He gives strength to those who are tired.

He gives power to those who are weak.

³⁰Even young people become worn out and get tired.

Even the best of them trip and fall.

³¹But those who trust in the Lord

will receive new strength.

They will fly as high as eagles.

They will run and not get tired.

They will walk and not grow weak.

The Lord Helps Israel

41The Lord says, “People who live on the islands,

come and stand quietly in front of me.

Let the nations gain new strength

in order to state their case.

Let them come forward and speak.

Let us go to court and find out who is right.

²“Who has stirred up a king from the east?

Who has helped him win his battles?

I hand nations over to him.

I bring kings under his control.

He turns them into dust with his sword.

With his bow he turns them into straw blowing in the wind.

³He hunts them down. Then he moves on unharmed.

He travels so fast that his feet

don’t seem to touch the ground.

⁴Who has made that happen? Who has carried it out?

Who has created all of the people who have ever lived?

I, the Lord, have done it.

I was with the first of them.

And I will be with the last of them.”

⁵The people on the islands have seen that king coming.

And it has made them afraid.

People tremble with fear from one end of the earth to the other.

They come and gather together.

⁶They help each other.

They say to one another, “Be strong!”

⁷One skilled worker makes a statue of a god.

Another covers it with gold.

The first worker says to the second,

“You have done a good job.”

Another worker smooths out the metal with a hammer.

Still another gives the statue its final shape.

The third worker says to the last one,

“You have done a good job.”

Then they nail the statue down so it won’t fall over.

⁸The Lord says, “People of Israel, you are my servants.

Family of Jacob, I have chosen you.

You are the children of my friend Abraham.

⁹I gathered you from one end of the earth to the other.

From the farthest places on earth I brought you together.

I said, ‘You are my servants.’

I have chosen you.

I have not turned my back on you.

¹⁰So do not be afraid. I am with you.

Do not be terrified. I am your God.

I will make you strong and help you.

My powerful right hand will take good care of you.

I always do what is right.

¹¹“All those who are angry with you will be put to shame.

And they will be dishonored.

Those who oppose you will be destroyed.

And they will vanish.

¹²You might search for your enemies.

But you will not find them.

Those who go to war against you

will completely disappear.

¹³I am the Lord your God.

I take hold of your right hand.

I say to you, ‘Do not be afraid.

I will help you.’

¹⁴Family of Jacob, you are as weak as a worm.

But do not be afraid.

People of Israel, there are only a few of you.

But do not be afraid.

I myself will help you,” announces the Lord.

He is the one who sets his people free.

He is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵He says, “I will make you into a threshing sled.

It will be new and sharp.

It will have many teeth.

You will grind the mountains down and crush them.

You will turn the hills into nothing but straw.

¹⁶You will toss them in the air.

A strong wind will catch them and blow them away.

You will be glad because I will make that happen.

You will praise me.

I am the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷“Those who are poor and needy search for water.

But there isn’t any.

Their tongues are dry because they are thirsty.

But I will help them. I am the Lord.

I will not desert them.

I am Israel’s God.

¹⁸I will make streams flow on the bare hilltops.

I will make springs come up in the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water.

I will turn the dry and cracked ground into flowing springs.

¹⁹I will make trees grow in the desert.

I will plant cedar and acacia trees there.

I will plant myrtle and olive trees there.

I will make pine trees grow in the dry and empty desert.

I will plant fir and cypress trees there.

²⁰Then people will see and know

that my powerful hand has done it.

They will consider and understand

that I have created it.

I am the Holy One of Israel.”

²¹The Lord says to the nations and their gods,

“State your case.”

Jacob’s King says to them,

“Prove your case to me.

²²Show me your facts. Tell me and my people

what is going to happen.

Tell us what happened in the past.

Then we can check it out

and see if it is really true.

Or announce to us the things that will take place.

²³Tell us what will happen in the days ahead.

Then we will know that you are gods.

Do something. It does not matter whether it is good or bad.

Then we will be terrified and filled with fear.

²⁴But you are less than nothing.

Your actions are completely worthless.

I hate it when people worship you.

²⁵“I have stirred up a king

who will come from the north.

He lives in the east.

He will bring honor to me.

He walks all over rulers as if they were mud.

He steps on them just as a potter stomps on clay.

²⁶Which one of you gods said those things

would happen before they did?

Who told us about them

so we could know them?

Who told us ahead of time?

Who told us so we could say,

‘You are right’?

None of you told us about them.

None of you told us ahead of time.

In fact, no one heard you say anything at all.

²⁷I was the first to tell Zion.

I said, ‘Look! The people of Israel are coming back!’

I sent a prophet to Jerusalem with the good news.

²⁸I look, but there is no one

among the gods that can give me advice.

None of them can answer

when I ask them the simplest question.

²⁹So they are not really gods at all.

What they do does not amount to anything.

They are as useless as wind.

The Lord’s Chosen Servant

42“Here is my servant. I take good care of him.

I have chosen…