Isaiah 40
1COMFORT ye, comfort ye My people, saith God:
2O priests, speak to the understanding of Jerusalem; comfort her; for her humiliation is accomplished; her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received from the hand of the Lord [blessings] double to the punishment of her sins.
3A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the roads for our God.
4Let every valley be filled up, and every mountain and hill be levelled: and let all the crooked be made a straight road, and the rough way, smooth plains:
5and the glory of the Lord will appear: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. For the Lord hath spoken.
6A voice of one saying, Proclaim! Wherefore I said, What shall I proclaim? “All flesh is grass; and all the glory of man as a flower of grass.
8The grass is withered and the flower fallen; but the word of our God will endure forever.”
9Ascend a lofty mountain, thou who proclaimest good news to Sion. Exalt thy voice with strength, thou who bringest glad tidings to Jerusalem: raise it up; be not afraid; say to the cities of Juda, Behold, your God!
10behold the Lord! The Lord is coming with majesty; and His arm with dominion. Behold His reward is with Him; and His work, before Him.
11Like a shepherd He will tend His flock; and with His arm He will gather the lambs, and comfort the ewes that are with young.
12Who hath measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span and the whole earth with a hand breadth? Who hath weighed the mountains in scales and the dales with a balance?
13Who hath known the mind of the Lord? and who hath been of His counsel to teach Him?
14or whom hath He consulted that He might instruct him? or who hath pointed out judgment to Him? or who hath shewn Him the way of knowledge?
15If all the nations are as a drop from a cask; and are accounted as the turning of a balance—may be reckoned as spittle;
16if Lebanon is not sufficient for a fire, nor all the beasts sufficient for an homage offering:
17and all the nations are as nothing and reckoned as nothing:
18to whom have you likened the Lord? and to what likeness have you compared Him?
19Hath a carpenter when he hath made an image, or the goldsmith when he hath melted gold and gilded it, prepared this as a likeness of Him?
20for the carpenter chooseth a sound piece of timber and will inquire wisely, how he may place his image that it may not be moved.
21Will you not know? will you not hear? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not known the foundations of the earth?
22He it is, who occupieth the circuit of the earth; and the inhabitants thereon are as grasshoppers. He it is, who established the heaven as an arch, and spread it out as a tent to be dwelt in;
23who giveth chiefs as a nothingness to govern: and hath made the earth as a mere nothing.
24For they could not plant nor could they sow, nor could their root strike into the ground; He blew upon them and they withered, and a whirlwind will sweep them away like stubble.
25Now therefore to whom have you likened Me; that I may be exalted? said the Holy One.
26Raise your eyes upwards and take a view: who hath displayed all those? He who bringeth out His host by number can call them all by name. On the account of abundant glory, by reason of the mightiness of His power He hath in no wise escaped thy notice;
27wherefore, thou, Jacob, shouldst not say (yet what hast thou, O Israel, spoken?), My way is hidden from God and, My God hath put off my cause and is gone.
28Hast thou then not known? Hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, the God who fitted up the ends of the earth, cannot hunger, nor can He be weary; nor can His understanding be searched out.
29He it is Who giveth strength to the hungry and grief to them who have not had sorrow.
30For youths will hunger and young men be weary, and chosen warriors will become strengthless;
31but they who wait upon God shall have new strength; they shall put forth fresh feathers like eagles; they shall run and not be wearied; they shall march on and shall not faint.