Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to
her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has
been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her
sins.
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the
Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our
God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and
hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places
a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people
will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What
shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their
faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath
of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people
are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of
our God endures forever.”
You who bring good news to Zion,
go up on a high
mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice
with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
say to the towns
of Judah,
“Here is your
God!”
See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
and he rules with
a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
and his recompense
accompanies him.
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the
lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads
those that have young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off
the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the
mountains on the scales
and the hills in a
balance?
Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
or instruct the
Lord as his counselor?
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him
the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the
path of understanding?
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as
dust on the scales;
he weighs the
islands as though they were fine dust.
Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires,
nor its animals
enough for burnt offerings.
Before him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded
by him as worthless
and less than
nothing.
With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will
you liken him?
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith
overlays it with gold
and fashions
silver chains for it.
A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that
will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol
that will not topple.
Do you not know?
Have you not
heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not
understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are
like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them
out like a tent to live in.
He brings princes to naught
and reduces the
rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they
sown,
no sooner do they
take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind
sweeps them away like chaff.
“To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my
equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all
these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth
each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is
missing.
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say,
Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is
disregarded by my God”?
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,
and his
understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the
power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men
stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their
strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and
not grow weary,
they will walk and
not be faint. Isaiah 40
