The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 40 The Deliverance Promised to the People of Israel

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 40

The Deliverance Promised to the People of Israel

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her wickedness is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, and that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

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

5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.

6 A voice saying, "Cry!" and one said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flowers of the field.

7 The grass withers, and the flowers fade, when the breath of the Lord blows upon them. Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.

9 You, Zion, who brings good news, go up to a high mountain. You, Jerusalem, who brings good news, lift up your voice with a loud voice; lift it up, do not be afraid, and say to the cities of Judah, 'Behold, your God!'

10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with a mighty man, with his arm ruling; behold, his reward is with him, and his wages before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom; he will gently lead those who are nursing. 

12 Who has measured the waters in his hollow, and marked off the heavens with a span, and gathered up the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has guided the Spirit of the Lord? And what counselor has taught him?

14 With whom has he taken counsel, to give him understanding, to show him the paths of justice, to teach him wisdom, and to make known to him the way of knowledge?

15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket to him, and as the small dust on the scales; behold, he tosses the isles about as a very small thing.

16 Lebanon is not enough for fire, nor are its animals sufficient for burnt offerings.

17 All the nations are as nothing before him; he considers them less than nothing and as worthless.

18 To whom then will you compare God? Or with what will you compare him? 

19 The craftsman engraves the image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

20 The poor, who cannot offer much, chooses wood that will not corrupt; a wise craftsman seeks to carve an image that cannot be moved.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has this not been made known to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?

22 He is the one who sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; he stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

23 He brings princes to nothing and makes the judges of the earth of no avail.

24 They are not planted or sown, nor does their cut-down stump take root in the earth; one blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. 

25 To whom then will you liken me, that I may be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who created these things, who brings forth their host by number, who calls them all by their names; by the greatness of his power, and by the might of his might, not one is missing.

27 Why then do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over by my God'?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.

29 He gives strength to the weary, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall surely fall. 

31 But those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint.