Isaiah 40:18–31

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.