Isaiah, 40

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

1. Be comforted, my people, be strengthened, says your God.

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.

2. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her time of bondage is at an end, that her guilt has been paid for, that from the hand of Yahweh she has received double punishment for all her iniquity.

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.

3. A voice cries, "In the wilderness prepare the way for Yahweh. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

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:

4. Every valley will be raised up; every mountain and hill will be laid low. The stumbling blocks shall become level and the rugged places smooth.

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].

5. The glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all mortals together will see it; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."

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:

6. A voice says, "Cry." and I say, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is grass, and all its beauty as the flower of the field.

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

7. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of Yahweh blows upon it.

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

8. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will forever stand."

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!

9. Go up onto the high mountain, messenger of Zion, lift up your voice with strength, fear not to cry aloud when you tell Jerusalem and announce to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!

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.

10. Here comes your God with might; his strong arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and here before him is his booty.

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.

11. Like a shepherd he tends his flock: he gathers the lambs in his arms, he carries them in his bosom, gently leading those that are with young.

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?

12. Who has measured the waters of the sea in a cupped hand, or the breadth of the sky in the span of a hand? Who has collected the sands of the earth? Who has weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

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

13. Who has probed the spirit of Yahweh or as a counselor advised him?

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?

14. Whom has he consulted to enlighten him, and help him to decide? Who gave him knowledge and taught him the ways of success?

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.

15. The nations before him are like a drop on the brim of the bucket, or like dust on the scales. The islands weigh no more than powder.

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

16. Lebanon is not enough to burn as altar fire, nor will its animals provide a holocaust.

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

17. All nations before him are as nothing, all emptiness, all vanity in his eyes.

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

18. To whom, then, will you liken God? With whose image will you compare him?

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

19. To an idol cast by a craftsman, covered with gold by a goldsmith and adorned with silver chains?

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.

20. Or to wood that will not rot, chosen and fashioned by a skilled craftsman into an image that cannot move?

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?

21. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning, that you may understand how the earth was founded?

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:

22. He sits far above the vault of the earth, with its inhabitants like grasshoppers; he stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out like a tent where he dwells.

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

23. He reduces the princes to naught, and the rulers of the earth to nothingness.

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.

24. No sooner are they planted or sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them, and they wither, a storm sweeps them away like stubble.

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

25. To whom, then, will you liken me or make me equal? says the Holy One.

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.

26. Lift up your eyes and see: who has created all this? He has ordered them as a starry host and called them each by name. So mighty is his power, so great his strength, that not one of them is missing.

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?

27. How can you say, O Jacob, how can you complain, O Israel, that your destiny is hidden from me, that your rights are ignored by Yahweh?

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.

28. Have you not known, have you not heard that Yahweh is an everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth? He does not grow tired or weary, his knowledge is without limit.

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

29. He gives strength to the enfeebled, he gives vigor to the wearied.

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

30. Youth may grow tired and faint, young men will stumble and fall,

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.

31. but those who hope in Yahweh will renew their strength. They will soar as with eagle's wings; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and never tire.