Isaiah 40

The Greatness of God

¹“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.

²“Speak kindly to Jerusalem;[#40:2 Lit to the heart of]

And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,

That her guilt has been removed,

That she has received of the Lord ’s hand

Double for all her sins.”

³¶The voice of one calling out,

“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;

Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

⁴“Let every valley be lifted up,

And every mountain and hill be made low;

And let the uneven ground become a plain,

And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

⁵Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,[#40:5 Or In order that the]

And all flesh will see it together;

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶A voice says, “Call out.”

Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”

All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

⁷The grass withers, the flower fades,

When the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

The people are indeed grass!

⁸The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.

⁹¶Go up on a high mountain,

Zion, messenger of good news,

Raise your voice forcefully,

Jerusalem, messenger of good news;

Raise it up, do not fear.

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

¹⁰Behold, the Lord God will come with might,[#40:10 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord]

With His arm ruling for Him.

Behold, His compensation is with Him,

And His reward before Him.

¹¹Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,

In His arm He will gather the lambs

And carry them in the fold of His robe;

He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

¹²¶Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,[#40:12 DSS reads waters of the sea]

And measured the heavens with a span,

And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,

And weighed the mountains in a balance

And the hills in a pair of scales?

¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord ,[#40:13 Or measured, marked off]

Or as His counselor has informed Him?

¹⁴With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?

And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge,

And informed Him of the way of understanding?

¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;

Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

¹⁶Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,[#40:16 I.e., for fire on an altar]

Nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.

¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before Him,

They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

¹⁸¶To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

¹⁹As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,[#40:19 Or carved image]

A goldsmith plates it with gold,

And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

²⁰He who is too impoverished for such an offering

Selects a tree that does not rot;

He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman

To prepare an idol that will not totter.

²¹¶Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,[#40:22 Or is enthroned; #40:22 Or vault]

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain

And spreads them out like a tent to live in.

²³It is He who reduces rulers to nothing,

Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

²⁴Scarcely have they been planted,[#40:24 Or Not even]

Scarcely have they been sown,

Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,

But He merely blows on them, and they wither,

And the storm carries them away like stubble.

²⁵“To whom then will you compare Me

That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.

²⁶Raise your eyes on high

And see who has created these stars,

The One who brings out their multitude by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,

Not one of them is missing.

²⁷¶Why do you say, Jacob, and you assert, Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord ,

And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?

²⁸Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Everlasting God, the Lord , the Creator of the ends of the earth

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹He gives strength to the weary,

And to the one who lacks might He increases power.

³⁰Though youths grow weary and tired,

And vigorous young men stumble badly,

³¹Yet those who wait for the Lord[#40:31 Or hope in]

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.