Isaiah 40:18–31

¹⁸To whom then will you ^qliken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

^19rThe workman molds an image,

The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,

And the silversmith casts silver chains.

²⁰Whoever is too impoverished for such ⁹a contribution

Chooses a tree that will not rot;

He seeks for himself a skillful workman

^sTo prepare a carved image that will not totter.

^21tHave you not known?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who ^ustretches out the heavens like a curtain,

And spreads them out like a ^vtent to dwell in.

²³He ¹brings the ^wprinces to nothing;

He makes the judges of the earth useless.

²⁴Scarcely shall they be planted,

Scarcely shall they be sown,

Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,

When He will also blow on them,

And they will wither,

And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

²⁵“To ^xwhom then will you liken Me,

Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high,

And see who has created these things,

Who brings out their host by number;

^yHe calls them all by name,

By the greatness of His might

And the strength of His power;

Not one is missing.

^27zWhy do you say, O Jacob,

And speak, O Israel:

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

²⁸Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

^aHis understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹He gives power to the weak,

And to those who have no might He increases strength.

³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary,

And the young men shall utterly fall,

³¹But those who ^bwait on the Lord

^cShall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.