Isaiah 40

¹“Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.

²Speak 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.

³The 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.

⁴Every 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.

⁵And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. And all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶The 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.

⁷The 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.

⁸The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. But the Word of our Lord remains for eternity.”

⁹You 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!”

¹⁰Behold, the Lord God will arrive in strength, and his arm will rule. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him.

¹¹He 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.

¹²Who 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?

¹³Who has assisted the Spirit of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor and has revealed things to him?

¹⁴With 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?

¹⁵Behold, 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.

¹⁶And Lebanon will not be sufficient to start a fire, and its animals will not be sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All 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.

¹⁸Therefore, to whom would you liken God? Or with what image would you replace him?

¹⁹Should the workman cast a statue? Or has the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?

²⁰He has chosen strong wood that will not decay. The skillful artisan seeks a way to set up an idol that cannot be moved.

²¹Do 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?

²²He 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.

²³He has brought those who examine what is secret to nothingness. He has brought the judges of the earth to emptiness.

²⁴And 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.

²⁵“And to whom would you compare me or equate me?” says the Holy One.

²⁶Lift 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.

²⁷Why 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.”

²⁸Do 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.

²⁹It is he who gives strength to the weary, and it is he who increases fortitude and strength in those who are failing.

³⁰Servants will struggle and fail, and young men will fall into infirmity.

³¹But 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.

Isaiah 40

¹Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

²Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

³The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

⁵And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

⁶The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

⁷The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

⁸The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

⁹O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

¹⁰Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

¹¹He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

¹²Who hath 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?

¹³Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

¹⁴With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

¹⁶And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

¹⁸To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

¹⁹The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

²⁰He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

²¹Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

²³That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

²⁴Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

²⁵To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

²⁷Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

²⁸Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

²⁹He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

³¹But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.