Isaiah 40

¹Isaiah 40:1. “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.²Isaiah 40:2. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”³Isaiah 40:3. A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.⁴Isaiah 40:4. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.⁵Isaiah 40:5. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.⁶Isaiah 40:6. A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.⁷Isaiah 40:7. The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.⁸Isaiah 40:8. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”⁹Isaiah 40:9. Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”¹⁰Isaiah 40:10. Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.¹¹Isaiah 40:11. He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.¹²Isaiah 40:12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?¹³Isaiah 40:13. Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?¹⁴Isaiah 40:14. Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?¹⁵Isaiah 40:15. Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.¹⁶Isaiah 40:16. Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.¹⁷Isaiah 40:17. All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.¹⁸Isaiah 40:18. To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?¹⁹Isaiah 40:19. To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?²⁰Isaiah 40:20. One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.²¹Isaiah 40:21. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?²²Isaiah 40:22. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.²³Isaiah 40:23. He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.²⁴Isaiah 40:24. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.²⁵Isaiah 40:25. “To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.²⁶Isaiah 40:26. Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.²⁷Isaiah 40:27. Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?²⁸Isaiah 40:28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.²⁹Isaiah 40:29. He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.³⁰Isaiah 40:30. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.³¹Isaiah 40:31. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.