Isaiah 40
40
CHAPTER 40
1My people, be ye comforted, be ye comforted, saith your Lord God.
2Speak ye to the heart of Jeru-salem, and call ye [to] it, for the malice thereof is [ful] filled, the wickedness thereof is forgiven; it hath received of the hand of the Lord double things for all his sins.
3The voice of a crier in desert [or The voice of the one crying in desert], Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye rightful [or right] the paths of our God in wilderness.
4Each valley shall be enhanced, and each mountain and little hill shall be made low; and shrewd things shall be into straight things, and sharp things shall be into plain ways.
5And the glory of the Lord shall be showed, and each man shall see together, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
6The voice of God, saying, Cry thou. And I said, What shall I cry? Each flesh is hay, and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field.
7The hay is dried up, and the flower fell down, for the spirit of the Lord blew therein. Verily the people is hay;
8the hay is dried up, and the flower fell down; but the word of the Lord dwelleth, either shall stand, without end.
9Thou that preachest to Zion, go upon an high hill; thou that preachest to Jerusalem, enhance thy voice in strength; enhance thou, do not thou dread; say thou to the cities of Judah, Lo! your God.
10Lo! the Lord God shall come in strength, and his arm shall hold lordship; lo! his meed is with him, and his work is before him.
11As a shepherd he shall feed his flock, he shall gather [the] lambs in his arms, and he shall raise in his bosom; he shall bear [the] sheep with lamb.
12Who meted [or measured] waters in a fist, and weighed heavens with a span? Who weighed the heaviness of the earth with three fingers, and weighed [the] mountains in a weigh, and [the] little hills in a balance?
13Who helped the Spirit of the Lord, either who was his counsellor, and showed to him?
14With whom took he counsel, and who learned him, and taught him the path of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and learned him in knowing, and showed to him the way of prudence?
15Lo! folks be as a drop of a bucket, and be areckoned as the tongue of a balance; lo! isles be as a little dust,
16and the Lebanon shall not suffice to burn his sacrifice, and the beasts thereof shall not suffice to burnt sacrifice.
17All folks be so before him, as if they be not; and they be reckoned as nothing and vain thing to him.
18To whom therefore made ye God like? either what image shall ye set to him?
19Whether a smith shall weld together an image, either a goldsmith shall figure it in gold, and a worker in silver shall dight it with pieces of silver?
20A wise craftsman chooseth a strong tree, and unable to be rotten; he seeketh how he shall ordain a simulacrum, that shall not be moved.
21Whether ye know not? whether ye heard not? whether it was not told to you from the beginning? whether ye understood not the foundaments of [the] earth?
22Which sitteth on the compass of [the] earth, and the dwellers thereof be as locusts; which stretcheth forth heavens as nought, and spreadeth abroad those as a tabernacle to dwell.
23Which giveth the searchers of privates, as if they be not, and [he] made the judges of [the] earth as a vain thing.
24And soothly when the stock of them is neither planted, neither is sown, neither is rooted in [the] earth, he blew suddenly on them, and they dried up, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25And to what thing have ye likened me, and have made [me] even? saith the Holy.
26Raise [up] your eyes on high, and see ye, who made these things of nought; which leadeth out in number the knighthood of them, and calleth all by name, for the multitude of his strength, and stalworth[y] ness, and might; neither one residue thing was.
27Why sayest thou, Jacob, and speakest thou, Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my doom passed from my God?
28Whether thou knowest not, either heardest thou not? God, everlasting Lord, that made of nought the ends of [the] earth, shall not fail, neither shall travail, neither ensearching of his wisdom is.
29That giveth strength to the weary, and strength to them that be not, and multiplieth stalworth[y] ness.
30Young men shall fail, and shall travail, and young men shall fall down in their sickness.
31But they that hope in the Lord, shall change strength, they shall take feathers as eagles; they shall run, and shall not travail; they shall go, and shall not fail.
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Isaiah 40: WBMS
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Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling ©2017
Wycliffe’s Apocrypha ©2013, 2015
Wycliffe’s Bible © 2012, 2015
Wycliffe’s New Testament ©2001, 2011
Wycliffe’s Old Testament ©2001, 2010
Isaiah 40
40
God’s People Comforted
1“Comfort, comfort my people,”#Is 12:1; 49:13; 51:3,12; 52:9; 61:2; 66:13; Jr 31:10–14; Zph 3:14–17; 2Co 1:4
says your God.
2“Speak tenderly to#40:2 Lit Speak to the heart of Jerusalem,
and announce to her
that her time of hard service is over,
her iniquity#Is 13:11 has been pardoned,#Lv 26:41,43; Is 27:9
and she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.”#Ex 22:7–8; Jr 16:18; Zch 9:12; Rv 18:6
3A voice of one crying out:
Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;#Mal 3:1; 4:5–6
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.#Mt 3:3; Mk 1:3; Lk 3:4; Jn 1:23
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.#Lk 3:5–6
5And the glory of the Lord will appear,#Is 35:2
and all humanity#40:5 Lit flesh together will see it,#Is 52:10; Jl 2:28
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.#Is 1:20; 34:16; 58:14
6A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another said,#40:6 DSS, LXX, Vg read I said “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,#1Pt 1:24–25
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.#Jb 14:2; Ps 102:11; 103:15
7The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath#40:7 Or wind, or Spirit of the Lord blows on them;#40:7 Lit it
indeed, the people are grass.
8The grass withers, the flowers fade,#Jms 1:11
but the word of our God remains forever.”#Is 55:11; 59:21; Mk 13:31; Lk 21:33
9Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.#Is 52:7
Jerusalem, herald of good news,#Is 61:1
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!” #Is 25:9; 35:2
10See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and his power establishes his rule.#Is 59:16–18
His wages are with him,#Is 62:11; Rv 22:12
and his reward accompanies him.
11He protects his flock like a shepherd;#Jr 31:10; Ezk 34:12–14,23,31; Mc 5:4; Jn 10:11,14–16
he gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them in the fold of his garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?#Is 48:13; Heb 1:10–12
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?
13Who has directed#40:13 Or measured, or comprehended the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave him counsel?#Rm 11:34; 1Co 2:16
14Who did he consult?
Who gave him understanding#Jb 21:22; Col 2:3
and taught him the paths of justice?
Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
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.
16Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.#Ps 50:9–11; Mc 6:6–7; Heb 10:5–9
17All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are considered by him
as empty nothingness.#Is 29:7
18With whom will you compare God?
What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?#Ex 8:10; 15:11; 1Sm 2:2; Is 40:25; 46:5; Mc 7:18; Ac 17:29
19An idol? — something that a smelter casts
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver chains for?#Is 2:20; 30:22; 41:7; 44:10
20A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal
that will not rot.#40:20 Or who is too poor for such an offering, or who chooses mulberry wood as a votive gift; Hb obscure
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.#1Sm 5:3; Is 44:9–15; 46:6–7; Jr 10:3–5
21Do you not know?#Ps 19:1; 50:6; Is 37:26; Ac 14:17; Rm 1:19–20
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?#Is 48:13; 51:13
22God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.#Nm 13:33
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth#Jb 9:8; Is 37:16; 42:5; 44:24
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.#Jb 36:29; Ps 18:11; 19:4; 104:2
23He reduces princes to nothing#Jb 12:21; Ps 107:40; Is 34:12
and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.
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.#Ps 1:4; Is 41:2,16; 64:6; Ezk 17:10,24; Nah 1:4
25“To whom will you compare me,#Is 46:5; Ac 17:29
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26Look up and see!
Who created#Is 42:5; 48:12–13 these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.#Ps 147:4–5
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.
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”?#Is 7:13; 49:4,14
28Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,#Gn 21:33; Ps 90:2
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary;
there is no limit to his understanding.#Ps 147:5; Rm 11:33
29He gives strength to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.
30Youths may become faint and weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
31but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;#Jb 17:9; Ps 103:5; 2Co 4:8–10,16; 12:9
they will soar on wings like eagles;#Ex 19:4; Dt 32:11; Lk 18:1; 2Co 4:1,16; Gl 6:9; Heb 12:3
they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint.
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