Isaiah 40
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God.
My puple, be ye coumfortid, be ye coumfortid, seith youre Lord God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare has been completed, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.
Speke ye to the herte of Jerusalem, and clepe ye it, for the malice therof is fillid, the wickidnesse therof is foryouun; it hath resseyued of the hond of the Lord double thingis for alle hise synnes.
3 The voice of a man crying out in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
The vois of a crier in desert, Make ye redi the weie of the Lord, make ye riytful the pathis of oure God in wildirnesse.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places smooth.
Ech valey schal be enhaunsid, and ech mounteyn and litil hil schal be maad low; and schrewid thingis schulen be in to streiyt thingis, and scharpe thingis schulen be in to pleyn weies.
5 And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.
And the glorie of the Lord schal be schewid, and ech man schal se togidere, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoke.
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of it is as the flower of the field.
The vois of God, seiynge, Crie thou. And Y seide, What schal Y crie? Ech fleisch is hei, and al the glorie therof is as the flour of the feeld.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of Jehovah blows upon it. Surely the people is grass.
The hei is dried vp, and the flour felle doun, for the spirit of the Lord bleew therynne.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
Verely the puple is hey; the hey is dried vp, and the flour felle doun; but the word of the Lord dwellith with outen ende.
9 O thou who tell good news to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain. O thou who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of Judah, Behold, your God!
Thou that prechist to Sion, stie on an hiy hil; thou that prechist to Jerusalem, enhaunse thi vois in strengthe; enhaunse thou, nyle thou drede; seie thou to the citees of Juda, Lo! youre God.
10 Behold, the lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
Lo! the Lord God schal come in strengthe, and his arm schal holde lordschipe; lo! his mede is with hym, and his werk is bifore hym.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those who have their young.
As a scheepherd he schal fede his flok, he schal gadere lambreen in his arm, and he schal reise in his bosom; he schal bere scheep `with lomb.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Who mat watris in a fist, and peiside heuenes with a spanne? Who peiside the heuynesse of the erthe with thre fyngris, and weide mounteyns in a weihe, and litle hillis in a balaunce?
13 Who has known the mind of Jehovah, or being his counselor has taught him?
Who helpide the Spirit of the Lord, ether who was his councelour, and schewide to hym?
14 With whom did he take counsel. And who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice. And taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
With whom took he councel, and who lernyde hym, and tauyte hym the path of riytfulnesse, and lernyde hym in kunnyng, and schewyde to him the weie of prudence?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.
Lo! folkis ben as a drope of a boket, and ben arettid as the tunge of a balaunce; lo!
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts of it sufficient for a burnt offering.
ylis ben as a litil dust, and the Liban schal not suffice to brenne his sacrifice, and the beestis therof schulen not suffice to brent sacrifice.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
Alle folkis ben so bifore hym, as if thei ben not; and thei ben rettid as no thing and veyn thing to hym.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare to him?
To whom therfor maden ye God lijk? ether what ymage schulen ye sette to hym?
19 The image, a workman has cast it, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains.
Whether a smyth schal welle togidere an ymage, ether a gold smyth schal figure it in gold, and a worchere in siluer schal diyte it with platis of siluer?
20 He who is too impoverished for such an oblation chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks for him a skilful workman to set up a graven image that shall not be moved.
A wijs crafti man chees a strong tre, and vnable to be rotun; he sekith how he schal ordeyne a symylacre, that schal not be mouyd.
21 Have ye not known? Have yet not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Whether ye witen not? whether ye herden not? whether it was not teld to you fro the begynnynge? whether ye vndurstoden not the foundementis of erthe?
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in,
Which sittith on the cumpas of erthe, and the dwelleris therof ben as locustis; which stretchith forth heuenes as nouyt, and spredith abrood tho as a tabernacle to dwelle.
23 who brings rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth as vanity.
Which yyueth the sercheris of priuytees, as if thei be not, and made the iugis of erthe as a veyn thing.
24 Yea, they have not been planted. Yea, they have not been sown. Yea, their stock has not taken root in the earth. Moreover he blows upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
And sotheli whanne the stok of hem is nether plauntid, nether is sowun, nether is rootid in erthe, he bleew sudenli on hem, and thei drieden vp, and a whirle wynd schal take hem awei as stobil.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? says the Holy One.
And to what thing `ye han licned me, and han maad euene? seith the hooli.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might. And because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
Reise youre iyen an hiy, and se ye, who made these thingis of nouyt; which ledith out in noumbre the kniythod of tho, and clepith alle bi name, for the multitude of his strengthe, and stalworthnesse, and vertu; nether o residue thing was.
27 Why do thou say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah. And the justice due to me is passed away from my God?
Whi seist thou, Jacob, and spekist thou, Israel, My weie is hid fro the Lord, and my doom passide fro my God?
28 Have thou not known? Have thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, nor is weary. There is no searching of his understanding.
Whether thou knowist not, ether herdist thou not? God, euerlastynge Lord, that made of nouyt the endis of erthe, schal not faile, nether schal trauele, nether enserchyng of his wisdom is.
29 He gives power to the faint. And to him who has no might he increases strength.
That yyueth vertu to the weeri, and strengthe to hem that ben not, and multiplieth stalworthnesse.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.
Children schulen faile, and schulen trauele, and yonge men schulen falle doun in her sikenesse.
31 But those who wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run, and not be weary. They shall walk, and not faint.
But thei that hopen in the Lord, schulen chaunge strengthe, thei schulen take fetheris as eglis; thei schulen renne, and schulen not trauele; thei schulen go, and schulen not faile.
