Isaiah 40
1 “Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
Speak ye [comfort] to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out unto her, that her time of sorrow is accomplished, that her iniquity is atoned for; for she hath received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
3 The voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight the paths of our God, in a solitary place.
A voice calleth out, In the wilderness make ye clear the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for God.
4 Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked will be straightened, and the uneven will become level ways.
Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made a straight path, and the rough places a plain:
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. And all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed; and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
6 The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” And I said, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
A voice saith, Proclaim; and he saith, What shall I proclaim? all flesh is grass, and all its goodliness is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. For the Spirit of the Lord has blown over it. Truly, the people are like grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the breath of the Lord hath blown upon it; surely the people is grass.
8 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. But the Word of our Lord remains for eternity.”
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God will stand firm for ever.
9 You who evangelize Zion, climb a high mountain! You who evangelize Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah: “Behold, your God!”
Upon a high mountain get thee up, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion; lift up with strength thy voice, thou who bringest good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, [here is] your God!
10 Behold, the Lord God will arrive in strength, and his arm will rule. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him.
Behold, the Lord Eternal will come with might, and his arm ruleth for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will pasture his flock like a shepherd. He will gather together the lambs with his arm, and he will lift them up to his bosom, and he himself will carry the very young.
Like a shepherd will he feed his flock: with his arm will he gather the lambs, and in his bosom will he carry them, will he lead gently those that suckle their young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and who has weighed the heavens with his palm? Who has suspended the mass of the earth with three fingers, and who has weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on a scale?
Who hath measured in the hollow of his hand the waters, and meted out the heavens with the span, and comprised in a measure the dust of the earth, and weighed in the scale-beam the mountains, and the hills in balances?
13 Who has assisted the Spirit of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor and has revealed things to him?
Who hath meted out the Spirit of the Lord? and [who was] his counsellor that he could have given him information?
14 With whom has he consulted? And who has instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and guided him to knowledge, and revealed the way of understanding to him?
With whom took he counsel, that he gave him understanding, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and caused him to know the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop of water in a bucket, and they are considered as the smallest grain on a balance. Behold, the islands are like a little dust.
Behold, nations are as a drop out of a bucket, and as the small dust of the balance are they accounted: behold, isles are like the flying dust.
16 And Lebanon will not be sufficient to start a fire, and its animals will not be sufficient for a burnt offering.
And Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, and its beasts do not suffice for burnt-offering.
17 All the nations in his sight are as if they did not exist, and they are considered by him as if they were nothingness and emptiness.
All the nations are as naught before him; less than nothing, and vanity are they accounted to him.
18 Therefore, to whom would you liken God? Or with what image would you replace him?
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19 Should the workman cast a statue? Or has the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
The graven image the artificer hath cast and the goldsmith hath overspread it with gold, and fabricated [on it] silver chains.
20 He has chosen strong wood that will not decay. The skillful artisan seeks a way to set up an idol that cannot be moved.
He that is skilled in the choice chooseth a wood that will not rot; he seeketh unto himself a skilful workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not understood the foundations of the earth?
Know ye not? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not paid attention to the foundations of the earth?
22 He is the One who sits upon the globe of the earth, and its inhabitants are like locusts. He extends the heavens as if they were nothing, and he spreads them out like a tent, in which to dwell.
[It is he] that dwelleth above the circle of the earth, while its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; that stretched out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;
23 He has brought those who examine what is secret to nothingness. He has brought the judges of the earth to emptiness.
That bringeth princes to naught; rendering the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 And certainly, their stalk was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the ground. He has suddenly blown across them, and they have withered, and a whirlwind will carry them away like chaff.
Yes, they were not yet planted; yea, they were not yet sown; yea, their stem had not yet taken root in the earth: when he but breathed upon them, and they withered, and the storm-wind carrieth them away as stubble.
25 “And to whom would you compare me or equate me?” says the Holy One.
To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things. He leads forth their army by number, and he calls them all by name. Because of the fullness of his strength and robustness and virtue, not one of them was left behind.
Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these? he that bringeth out their host by number; that calleth them all by name; from the Mighty One not one escapeth.
27 Why do you say this, O Jacob, and why do you speak this way, O Israel? “My way has been hidden from the Lord, and my judgment escaped notice by my God.”
Why wilt thou say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my cause hath passed from the cognizance of my God?
28 Do you not know, or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, who has created the limits of the earth. He does not diminish, and he does not struggle. Neither is his wisdom searchable.
Dost thou not know? hast thou not heard? The God of everlasting is the Lord, is the Creator of the ends of the earth; he will not be faint and weary; unsearchable is his understanding.
29 It is he who gives strength to the weary, and it is he who increases fortitude and strength in those who are failing.
He giveth to the faint strength; and to the powerless he imparteth much might.
30 Servants will struggle and fail, and young men will fall into infirmity.
Though youths should grow faint and be weary, and young men should utterly stumble:
31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will take up wings like eagles. They will run and not struggle. They will walk and not tire.
Yet they that wait upon the Lord shall acquire new strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk, and not become faint.
