Isaiah 40:1-20 ▼

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

2 Speak, ye priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord's hand double the amount of her sins.

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.

4 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains.

5 And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken it .

6 The voice of one saying, Cry; and I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass:

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8 The grass withers, and the flower fades: but the word of our God abides for ever.

9 O thou that bringest glad tidings to Zion, go up on the high mountain; lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest glad tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, fear not; say unto the cities of Juda, Behold your God!

10 Behold the Lord! The Lord is coming with strength, and his arm is with power: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

11 He shall tend his flock as a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall soothe them that are with young.

12 Who has measured the water in his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in scales, and the forests in a balance?

13 Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?

14 Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgement, or who has taught him the way of understanding;

15 since all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, and shall be counted as spittle?

16 And Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole-burnt offering:

17 and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.

18 To whom have ye compared the Lord? and with what likeness have ye compared him?

19 Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, and made it a similitude?

20 For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely enquire how he shall set up his image, and that so that it should not be moved.