Isaiah 40:1-20 ▼

1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her time of suffering is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God!

4 Every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places a plain.

5 And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see [it] together: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken.

6 A voice saith, Cry. And he saith, What shall I cry? -- All flesh is grass, and all the comeliness thereof as the flower of the field.

7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, for the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God abideth for ever.

9 O Zion, that bringest glad tidings, get thee up into a high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest glad tidings, lift up thy voice with strength: lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

10 Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come with might, and his arm shall rule for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompence before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd: he will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom; he will gently lead those that give suck.

12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with [his] span, and grasped the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in scales?

13 Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, and, [as] his counsellor, hath taught him?

14 With whom took he counsel, and [who] gave him intelligence, and instructed him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are esteemed as a drop of the bucket, and as the fine dust on the scales; behold, he taketh up the isles as an atom.

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are esteemed by him less than a cipher, and vanity.

18 To whom then will ye liken God? and what likeness will ye compare unto him?

19 The workman casteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains [for it].

20 He that is impoverished, so that he hath no offering, chooseth a tree that doth not rot; he seeketh unto him a skilled workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved.