Isaiah, 40

1. 'Console my people, console them,' says your God.

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

2. 'Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and cry to her that her period of service is ended, that her guilt has been atoned for, that, from the hand of Yahweh, she has received double punishment for all her sins.'

2. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.

3. A voice cries, 'Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh. Make a straight highway for our God across the wastelands.

3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be levelled, every cliff become a plateau, every escarpment a plain;

4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

5. then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed and all humanity will see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.'

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

6. A voice said, 'Cry aloud!' and I said, 'What shall I cry?' -'All humanity is grass and all its beauty like the wild flower's.

6. The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field:

7. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of Yahweh blows on them. (The grass is surely the people.)

7. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass.

8. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God remains for ever.'

8. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

9. Go up on a high mountain, messenger of Zion. Shout as loud as you can, messenger of Jerusalem! Shout fearlessly, say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God.'

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

10. Here is Lord Yahweh coming with power, his arm maintains his authority, his reward is with him and his prize precedes him.

10. Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong [hand], and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work before him.

11. He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.

11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry [them] in his bosom, [and] shall gently lead those that are with young.

12. Who was it measured the water of the sea in the hollow of his hand and calculated the heavens to the nearest inch, gauged the dust of the earth to the nearest bushel, weighed the mountains in scales, the hills in a balance?

12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

13. Who directed the spirit of Yahweh, what counsellor could have instructed him?

13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or [being] his counsellor hath taught him?

14. Whom has he consulted to enlighten him, to instruct him in the path of judgement, to teach him knowledge and show him how to understand?

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

15. See, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, they count as a grain of dust on the scales. See, coasts and islands weigh no more than fine powder.

15. Behold, the nations [are] as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

16. The Lebanon is not enough for the burning fires nor its animals enough for the burnt offering.

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, for him they count as nothingness and emptiness.

17. All nations before him [are] as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

18. To whom can you compare God? What image can you contrive of him?

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

19. The craftsman casts an idol, a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it.

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

20. Someone too poor to afford a sacrifice chooses a piece of wood that will not rot; he then seeks out a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not totter.

20. He that [is] so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree [that] will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, [that] shall not be moved.

21. Did you not know, had you not heard? Was it not told you from the beginning? Have you not understood how the earth was set on its foundations?

21. Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22. He who sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, the inhabitants of which are like grasshoppers, stretches out the heavens like a cloth, spreads them out like a tent to live in.

22. [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

23. He reduces princes to nothing, the rulers of the world to mere emptiness.

23. That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

24. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the soil, than he blows on them and they wither and the storm carries them away like chaff.

24. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

25. 'To whom can you compare me, or who is my equal?' says the Holy One.

25. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

26. Lift your eyes and look: he who created these things leads out their army in order, summoning each of them by name. So mighty is his power, so great his strength, that not one fails to answer.

26. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth.

27. How can you say, Jacob, how can you repeat, Israel, 'My way is hidden from Yahweh, my rights are ignored by my God'?

27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

28. Did you not know? Had you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, he created the remotest parts of the earth. He does not grow tired or weary, his understanding is beyond fathoming.

28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is] no searching of his understanding.

29. He gives strength to the weary, he strengthens the powerless.

29. He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength.

30. Youths grow tired and weary, the young stumble and fall,

30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31. but those who hope in Yahweh will regain their strength, they will sprout wings like eagles, though they run they will not grow weary, though they walk they will never tire.

31. But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.