Isaiah 40

Comfort, Comfort My People

1“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2“Speak to Jerusalem’s heart and call to her:
her hard service is complete, her guilt has been accepted as paid;
she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.”

A Voice in the Wilderness

3A voice calls:
“In the wilderness clear a way for the LORD;
make a straight highway through the desert for our God. 4Every valley will be raised, every mountain and hill brought low;
uneven ground will become level,
and ridges a plain. 5The LORD’s glory will be revealed,
and all flesh will see it together,
for the LORD’s mouth has spoken.” 6A voice says, “Call out!”
And he says, “What shall I call?”
“All flesh is grass,
and all its faithfulness like a field’s flower. 7Grass dries up, a flower withers,
when the LORD’s breath blows on it.
Surely the people are grass. 8Grass dries up, a flower withers,
but our God’s word stands forever.”

Look Your God

9Climb a high mountain, Zion, bearer of good news!
Raise your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bearer of good news!
Raise it; do not fear.
Say to Judah’s cities, “Look, your God!” 10Look, the Lord GOD comes with might;
his arm rules for him.
Look, his reward is with him, his recompense before him. 11Like a shepherd he tends his flock;
with his arm he gathers the lambs
and carries them against his chest.
He gently leads those nursing their young.

To Whom Will You Liken God?

12Who has measured the waters in his palm,
marked off the heavens with a handspan,
held earth’s dust in a measure,
weighed mountains on a balance and hills on scales? 13Who has measured the LORD’s spirit,
or instructed him as his counselor? 14Whom did he consult for understanding?
Who taught him the path of justice,
taught him knowledge, or showed him the way of understanding? 15Look, nations are like a drop from a bucket,
regarded as dust on scales.
Look, he lifts islands like fine dust. 16Lebanon does not have enough wood for the fire,
nor enough animals for a burnt offering. 17All nations are as nothing before him;
he regards them as less than nothing and emptiness. 18To whom, then, will you compare God?
What likeness can you set beside him? 19An idol? A craftsman casts it,
a goldsmith plates it with gold
and fashions silver chains. 20Someone too poor for such an offering chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not wobble. 21Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Were you not told from the beginning?
Have you not understood earth’s foundations? 22He sits above earth’s circle,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches the heavens like a thin curtain,
spreads them like a tent to live in. 23He reduces rulers to nothing,
makes earth’s judges emptiness. 24Scarcely planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem rooted in the earth,
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a tempest carries them off like stubble. 25“To whom will you compare me,
that I should be his equal?” says the Holy One. 26Lift your eyes on high and see: who created these?
He brings their host out by number and calls each by name.
Because of his great vigor and mighty strength,
not one is missing.

They Who Wait

27Why do you say, Jacob, and declare, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
my claim escapes my God’s notice”? 28Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
Creator of earth’s farthest reaches.
He does not grow weary or tired;
his understanding cannot be searched out. 29He gives strength to the weary,
and increases the power of those who have none. 30Even youths grow weary and tired;
young men stumble and fall. 31But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength.
They will rise on wings like eagles,
run and not grow tired,
walk and not grow weary.