Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40, verse 1. ¹“Comfort, yes, comfort My people,” says God. Isaiah 40, verse 2. ²“O priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem, comfort her, for her humiliation is ended, her sin is pardoned; for she received from the Lord's hand double for her sins.” Isaiah 40, verse 3. ³The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God. Isaiah 40, verse 4. ⁴Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill humbled; the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places into plains. Isaiah 40, verse 5. ⁵The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God; for the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40, verse 6. ⁶The voice said, “Cry out.” So I said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all man's glory is like the flower of the field. Isaiah 40, verse 7. ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, Isaiah 40, verse 8. ⁸but the word of our God abides forever.’ Isaiah 40, verse 9. ⁹O you who bring good tidings to Zion, go into the high mountain; O you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God.” Isaiah 40, verse 10. ¹⁰Behold, the Lord is coming with strength, and His arm is with authority. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. Isaiah 40, verse 11. ¹¹He will feed His flock like a shepherd and gather the lambs with His arm; and He will comfort those with young. Isaiah 40, verse 12. ¹²Who measured the water in His hand, and heaven with a span, and all the earth with a handful? Who weighed the mountains in scales and the vales in a balance? Isaiah 40, verse 13. ¹³Who knows the Lord's mind, and who was His counselor; who advises Him? Isaiah 40, verse 14. ¹⁴Or with whom does He take counsel, who instructs Him, and who teaches Him judgment and shows Him the way of understanding? Isaiah 40, verse 15. ¹⁵The nations are as a drop in a bucket and are counted as the balance of a scale; and they are counted as spittle. Isaiah 40, verse 16. ¹⁶Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its four-footed animals sufficient for a whole burnt offering. Isaiah 40, verse 17. ¹⁷All nations are as nothing and are counted as nothing. Isaiah 40, verse 18. ¹⁸To whom then will you liken the Lord, and to what likeness will you compare Him? Isaiah 40, verse 19. ¹⁹Has the workman made an image, or has the goldsmith overspread it with gold, gilding it, making a likeness of Him? Isaiah 40, verse 20. ²⁰For the workman chooses wood that will not rot, and skillfully seeks to prepare a carved image that will not totter. Isaiah 40, verse 21. ²¹Will you not know? Will you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Do you not know the foundations of the earth? Isaiah 40, verse 22. ²²It is He who possesses the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. It is He who stretches out heaven like a vault, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40, verse 23. ²³He makes the rulers He establishes to rule to be as nothing; He makes the earth as nothing. Isaiah 40, verse 24. ²⁴Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, when He shall also blow on them and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble. Isaiah 40, verse 25. ²⁵“Now then, to whom will you liken Me, that I should be exalted?” says the Holy One. Isaiah 40, verse 26. ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and see. Who displayed these things? He who brings forth their host by number; He who calls them all by name. From the greatness of His glory to the strength of His might, nothing escapes Your notice. Isaiah 40, verse 27. ²⁷For why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, saying, “My way is hidden from God, and my God took away my judgment and departed”? Isaiah 40, verse 28. ²⁸So then, have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the God who created the ends of the earth, neither hungers nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Isaiah 40, verse 29. ²⁹He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to those who do not grieve. Isaiah 40, verse 30. ³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the elect shall be without strength. Isaiah 40, verse 31. ³¹But those who wait on God shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not hunger.