Isaiah 40
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak 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.
3 The 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.
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 plain:
5 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 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:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the
LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God
shall stand for ever.
9 O 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!
10 Behold, 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.
11 He 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.
12 Who 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?
13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his
counsellor hath taught him?
14 With 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?
15 Behold, 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.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof
sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to
him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare
unto him?
19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth
it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
20 He 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.
21 Have 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?
22 It 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:
23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of
the earth as vanity.
24 Yea, 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.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the
Holy One.
26 Lift 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.
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid
from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Hast 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.
29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he
increaseth strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men
shall utterly fall:
31 But 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.
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