Isaiah 40

1Comfort my people, comfort them, declares your God.

2Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her that her hard service is complete, that her iniquity has been pardoned, that she has received from Yahweh's hand double for all her sins.

3A voice calls in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of Yahweh; straighten a highway in the desert for our God."

4Every valley will be lifted up, every mountain and hill brought low, the crooked becoming a level plain, and the rough places broad plains.

5The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

6A voice says, "Cry!" And he said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field."

7The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows upon it; surely the people are grass.

8The grass dries up, the flower wilts, but the word of our God endures forever.

9You who bring good news to Zion, climb a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, raise your voice with power; raise it. Do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, "Look, your God!"

10See, the Lord Yahweh comes with strength, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11Like a shepherd he will shepherd his flock, gather the lambs in his arm, carry them in his bosom, and lead those with young.

12Who has gauged the waters in his palm, estimated the heavens with a span, held all the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in balances?

13Who has guided the Spirit of Yahweh, or who as his counselor instructs him?

14Whom has he consulted with, who has made him understand and taught him the way of justice, taught him knowledge, and shown him the path of understanding?

15Behold, nations are like a drop from a bucket and are counted as fine dust on the scales; behold, he lifts the islands like a trifle.

16Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17All nations are like nothing before him; they are accounted by him less than nothing and emptiness.

18To whom will you liken God? To what likeness will you compare him?

19The craftsman casts the carved image, the goldsmith beats gold over it, and the founder casts silver chains.

20The one too poor for an offering chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks a wise craftsman to prepare a carved image for him that will not totter.

21Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not discerned from the earth's foundations?

22He who sits above the circle of the earth, its dwellers like grasshoppers; he who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.

23who appoints princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth like formlessness.

24No, they are not planted, not sown—no, their stock does not take root in the earth. He also blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

25To whom will you compare me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.

26Raise your eyes to the heights and see who created these, who leads out their host by number. He calls them all by name; by the greatness of his might and his robust power, not one is lacking.

27Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, 'My way is hidden from Yahweh, and my justice is overlooked by my God?'

28Have you not known? Have you not heard? Eternal God, Yahweh, creator of earth's ends, neither faints nor wearies; there is no searching his understanding.

29He gives power to the faint, and to those without might he multiplies strength.

30Youths faint and grow weary, and young men utterly fall.

31Those who hope in Yahweh will renew their power; they will soar with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.