Comfort for God’s People
ISAIAH 40 [†] z Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2[†] a Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that b her warfare [1] is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
d “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
e make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4[†] f Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5[^][†] g And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
h for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
And I said, [3] “What shall I cry?”
i All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty [4] is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 j The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9[†] Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, k herald of good news; [5]
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news; [6]
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10[†] l Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
m behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11[^] n He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
o he will gather the lambs in his arms;
p he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
12[†] q Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 r Who has measured [7] the Spirit of the LORD,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14 Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
s Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15[†] Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted t as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up u the coastlands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are v its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17 w All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18[†] x To whom then will you liken God,
y or what likeness compare with him?
19 y An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20 z He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood [8] that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
21[†] a Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22[†] It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are b like grasshoppers;
c who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23 d who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24[†] Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
e and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25[†] f To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
g He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.
27[†] Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
h “My way is hidden from the LORD,
i and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28[†] Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is j the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
k his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30[†] Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31[†] but l they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings m like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.