| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins." |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5And the glory of the LORD will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6A voice was saying, "Cry out!" Another said, "What should I cry out?" "All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever." |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!" |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10See, the Lord GOD comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule. His wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11He protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales? |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or who gave him counsel? |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Who did he consult? Who gave him understanding and taught him the paths of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; he lifts up the islands like fine dust. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Lebanon's cedars are not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17All the nations are as nothing before him; they are considered by him as empty nothingness. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him? |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19An idol?--something that a smelter casts and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver chains for? |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth? |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23He reduces princes to nothing and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25"To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal?" asks the Holy One. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Look up and see! Who created these? He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name. Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27Jacob, why do you say, and, Israel, why do you assert: "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God"? |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31but those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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