Isaiah 40–66

Chapter 40

Comfort for God’s People

¹“Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your God.

²“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.

Tell her that her sad days are gone

and her sins are pardoned.

Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over

for all her sins.”

³Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,

“Clear the way through the wilderness

for the Lord!

Make a straight highway through the wasteland

for our God!

⁴Fill in the valleys,

and level the mountains and hills.

Straighten the curves,

and smooth out the rough places.

⁵Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people will see it together.

The Lord has spoken!”

⁶A voice said, “Shout!”

I asked, “What should I shout?”

“Shout that people are like the grass.

Their beauty fades as quickly

as the flowers in a field.

⁷The grass withers and the flowers fade

beneath the breath of the Lord.

And so it is with people.

⁸The grass withers and the flowers fade,

but the word of our God stands forever.”

⁹O Zion, messenger of good news,

shout from the mountaintops!

Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.

Shout, and do not be afraid.

Tell the towns of Judah,

“Your God is coming!”

¹⁰Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.

He will rule with a powerful arm.

See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd.

He will carry the lambs in his arms,

holding them close to his heart.

He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

The Lord Has No Equal

¹²Who else has held the oceans in his hand?

Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?

Who else knows the weight of the earth

or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?

¹³Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord?

Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?

¹⁴Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice?

Does he need instruction about what is good?

Did someone teach him what is right

or show him the path of justice?

¹⁵No, for all the nations of the world

are but a drop in the bucket.

They are nothing more

than dust on the scales.

He picks up the whole earth

as though it were a grain of sand.

¹⁶All the wood in Lebanon’s forests

and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough

to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.

¹⁷The nations of the world are worth nothing to him.

In his eyes they count for less than nothing—

mere emptiness and froth.

¹⁸To whom can you compare God?

What image can you find to resemble him?

¹⁹Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold,

overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?

²⁰Or if people are too poor for that,

they might at least choose wood that won’t decay

and a skilled craftsman

to carve an image that won’t fall down!

²¹Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand?

Are you deaf to the words of God—

the words he gave before the world began?

Are you so ignorant?

²²God sits above the circle of the earth.

The people below seem like grasshoppers to him!

He spreads out the heavens like a curtain

and makes his tent from them.

²³He judges the great people of the world

and brings them all to nothing.

²⁴They hardly get started, barely taking root,

when he blows on them and they wither.

The wind carries them off like chaff.

²⁵“To whom will you compare me?

Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

²⁶Look up into the heavens.

Who created all the stars?

He brings them out like an army, one after another,

calling each by its name.

Because of his great power and incomparable strength,

not a single one is missing.

²⁷O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles?

O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?

²⁸Have you never heard?

Have you never understood?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of all the earth.

He never grows weak or weary.

No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

²⁹He gives power to the weak

and strength to the powerless.

³⁰Even youths will become weak and tired,

and young men will fall in exhaustion.

³¹But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

They will soar high on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.

They will walk and not faint.

Chapter 41

God’s Help for Israel

¹“Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea.

Bring your strongest arguments.

Come now and speak.

The court is ready for your case.

²“Who has stirred up this king from the east,

rightly calling him to God’s service?

Who gives this man victory over many nations

and permits him to trample their kings underfoot?

With his sword, he reduces armies to dust.

With his bow, he scatters them like chaff before the wind.

³He chases them away and goes on safely,

though he is walking over unfamiliar ground.

⁴Who has done such mighty deeds,

summoning each new generation from the beginning of time?

It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last.

I alone am he.”

⁵The lands beyond the sea watch in fear.

Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.

⁶The idol makers encourage one another,

saying to each other, “Be strong!”

⁷The carver encourages the goldsmith,

and the molder helps at the anvil.

“Good,” they say. “It’s coming along fine.”

Carefully they join the parts together,

then fasten the thing in place so it won’t fall over.

⁸“But as for you, Israel my servant,

Jacob my chosen one,

descended from Abraham my friend,

⁹I have called you back from the ends of the earth,

saying, ‘You are my servant.’

For I have chosen you

and will not throw you away.

¹⁰Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

¹¹“See, all your angry enemies lie there,

confused and humiliated.

Anyone who opposes you will die

and come to nothing.

¹²You will look in vain

for those who tried to conquer you.

Those who attack you

will come to nothing.

¹³For I hold you by your right hand—

I, the Lord your God.

And I say to you,

‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.

¹⁴Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob,

don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you.

I am the Lord, your Redeemer.

I am the Holy One of Israel.’

¹⁵You will be a new threshing instrument

with many sharp teeth.

You will tear your enemies apart,

making chaff of mountains.

¹⁶You will toss them into the air,

and the wind will blow them all away;

a whirlwind will scatter them.

Then you will rejoice in the Lord.

You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷“When the poor and needy search for water and there is none,

and their tongues are parched from thirst,

then I, the Lord, will answer them.

I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.

¹⁸I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.

I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.

I will fill the desert with pools of water.

Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.

¹⁹I will plant trees in the barren desert—

cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.

²⁰I am doing this so all who see this miracle

will understand what it means—

that it is the Lord who has done this,

the Holy One of Israel who created it.

²¹“Present the case for your idols,”

says the Lord.

“Let them show what they can do,”

says the King of Israel.

²²“Let them try to tell us what happened long ago

so that we may consider the evidence.

Or let them tell us what the future holds,

so we can know what’s going to happen.

²³Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead.

Then we will know you are gods.

In fact, do anything—good or bad!

Do something that will amaze and frighten us.

²⁴But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all.

Those who choose you pollute themselves.

²⁵“But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north.

From the east he will call on my name.

I will give him victory over kings and princes.

He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.

²⁶“Who told you from the beginning

that this would happen?

Who predicted this,

making you admit that he was right?

No one said a word!

²⁷I was the first to tell Zion,

‘Look! Help is on the way!’

I will send Jerusalem a messenger with good news.

²⁸Not one of your idols told you this.

Not one gave any answer when I asked.

²⁹See, they are all foolish, worthless things.

All your idols are as empty as the wind.

Chapter 42

The Lord’s Chosen Servant

¹“Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.

He is my chosen one, who pleases me.

I have put my Spirit upon him.

He will bring justice to the nations.

²He will not shout

or raise his voice in public.

³He will not crush the weakest reed

or put out a flickering candle.

He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.

⁴He will not falter or lose heart

until justice prevails throughout the earth.

Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.”

⁵God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out.

He created the earth and everything in it.

He gives breath to everyone,

life to everyone who walks the earth.

And it is he who says,

⁶“I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.

I will take you by the hand and guard you,

and I will give you to my people, Israel,

as a symbol of my covenant with them.

And you will be a light to guide the nations.

⁷You will open the eyes of the blind.

You will free the captives from prison,

releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

⁸“I am the Lord; that is my name!

I will not give my glory to anyone else,

nor share my praise with carved idols.

⁹Everything I prophesied has come true,

and now I will prophesy again.

I will tell you the future before it happens.”

A Song of Praise to the Lord

¹⁰Sing a new song to the Lord!

Sing his praises from the ends of the earth!

Sing, all you who sail the seas,

all you who live in distant coastlands.

¹¹Join in the chorus, you desert towns;

let the villages of Kedar rejoice!

Let the people of Sela sing for joy;

shout praises from the mountaintops!

¹²Let the whole world glorify the Lord;

let it sing his praise.

¹³The Lord will march forth like a mighty hero;

he will come out like a warrior, full of fury.

He will shout his battle cry

and crush all his enemies.

¹⁴He will say, “I…