Isaiah 40
40
The Lord will rescue his people
Encourage God's people
1Our God has said:
“Encourage my people!
Give them comfort.
2Speak kindly to Jerusalem
and announce:
Your slavery is past;
your punishment is over.
I, the LORD, made you pay
double for your sins.”
3Someone is shouting:#Mt 3.3; Mk 1.3; Jn 1.23.#Lk 3.4-6.
“Clear a path in the desert!
Make a straight road
for the LORD our God.
4Fill in the valleys;
flatten every hill
and mountain.
Level the rough
and rugged ground.
5Then the glory of the LORD
will appear for all to see.
The LORD has promised this!”
6Someone told me to shout,#Jas 1.10,11; 1 P 1.24,25.
and I asked,
“What should I shout?”
We humans are merely grass,
and we last no longer
than wild flowers.
7At the LORD's command,
flowers and grass disappear,
and so do we.
8Flowers and grass fade away,
but what our God has said
will never change.
Your God is here!
9There is good news
for the city of Zion.
Shout it as loud as you can#40.9 There…can: Or “City of Jerusalem, you have good news. Shout it as loud as you can.”
from the highest mountain.
Don't be afraid to shout
to the towns of Judah,
“Your God is here!”
10Look! The powerful LORD God#Is 62.11; Rev 22.12.
is coming to rule
with his mighty arm.
He brings with him
what he has taken in war,
and he rewards his people.
11The LORD cares for his nation,#Ez 34.15; Jn 10.11.
just as shepherds care
for their flocks.
He carries the lambs
in his arms,
while gently leading
the mother sheep.
Who compares with God?
12Did any of you measure
the ocean by yourself
or stretch out the sky
with your own hands?
Did you put the soil
of the earth in a bucket
or weigh the hills and mountains
on balance scales?
13Has anyone told the LORD#40.13 the LORD: Or “the LORD's Spirit”.#Ro 11.34; 1 Co 2.16.
what he must do
or given him advice?
14Did the LORD ask anyone
to teach him wisdom
and justice?
Who gave him knowledge
and understanding?
15To the LORD, all nations
are merely a drop in a bucket
or dust on balance scales;
all the islands
are but a handful of sand.
16The cattle
on Lebanon's mountains
would not be enough to offer
as a sacrifice to God,
and the trees would not
be enough for the fire.
17God thinks of the nations
as far less than nothing.
18Who compares with God?#Ac 17.29.
Is anything like him?
19Is an idol at all like God?
It is made of bronze
with a thin layer of gold,
and decorated with silver.
20Or special wood may be chosen#40.20 Or…chosen: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. Two kinds of idols seem to be described: bronze idols covered with gold (verse 19) and wooden idols (verse 20).
because it doesn't rot—
then skilled hands
take care to make an idol
that won't fall on its face.
God rules the whole earth
21Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
Isn't it clear that God
created the world?#40.21 Isn't…world: Or “Hasn't it been clear since the time of creation?”
22God is the one who rules
the whole earth,
and we who live here
are merely insects.
He spread out the heavens
like a curtain or an open tent.
23God brings down rulers
and turns them into nothing.
24They are like flowers
freshly sprung up
and starting to grow.
But when God blows on them,
they wilt and are carried off
like straw in a storm.
25The holy God asks,
“Who compares with me?
Is anyone my equal?”
26Look at the evening sky!
Who created the stars?
Who gave them each a name?
Who leads them like an army?
The LORD is so powerful
that none of the stars
are ever missing.
The LORD gives strength
27You people of Israel, say,
“God pays no attention to us!
He doesn't care if we
are treated unjustly.”
But how can you say that?
28Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
The LORD is the eternal God,
Creator of the earth.
He never gets weary or tired;
his wisdom cannot be measured.
29The LORD gives strength
to those who are weary.
30Even young people get tired,
then stumble and fall.
31But those who trust the LORD
will find new strength.
They will be strong like eagles
soaring upward on wings;
they will walk and run
without getting tired.
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Isaiah 40: CEVUK
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Isaiah 40
40
Prepare the Way for the Lord
(Matthew 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–20; John 1:19–28)
1“Comfort, comfort My people,”
says your God.
2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her forced labor has been completed;
her iniquity has been pardoned.
For she has received from the hand of the Lord
double for all her sins.”
3A voice of one calling:
“Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness;#40:3 Or A voice of one calling in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.#40:3 LXX make straight the paths of our God; cited in Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, and John 1:23
4Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill made low;
the uneven ground will become smooth,
and the rugged land a plain.#40:4 LXX Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low. All the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains. Cited in Luke 3:5
5And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all humanity together will see it.#40:5 Literally and all flesh together will see it. Cited in Luke 3:6
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Enduring Word
(1 Peter 1:22–25)
6A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I asked, “What should I cry out?”
“All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
7The grass withers and the flowers fall
when the breath of the Lord blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.
8The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God stands forever.”#40:8 Cited in 1 Peter 1:24–25
Here Is Your God!
(Romans 11:33–36)
9Go up on a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news.
Raise your voice loudly,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news.
Lift it up,#40:9 Or O herald of good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. O herald of good news to Jerusalem, lift it up,
do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and His arm establishes His rule.
His reward is with Him,
and His recompense accompanies Him.
11He tends His flock like a shepherd;
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them close to His heart.
He gently leads the nursing ewes.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on a scale
and the hills with a balance?
13Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,#40:13 Or mind of the Lord; see also LXX.
or informed Him as His counselor?#40:13 Cited in Romans 11:34 and 1 Corinthians 2:16
14Whom did He consult to enlighten Him,
and who taught Him the paths of justice?
Who imparted knowledge to Him
and showed Him the way of understanding?
15Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered a speck of dust on the scales;
He lifts up the islands #40:15 Or coastlands like fine dust.
16Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel,
nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are as nothing before Him;
He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
18To whom will you liken God?
To what image will you compare Him?
19To an idol that a craftsman casts
and a metalworker overlays with gold
and fits with silver chains?
20To one bereft of an offering
who chooses wood that will not rot,
who seeks a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not topple?
21Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?
22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its dwellers are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23He brings the princes to nothing
and makes the rulers #40:23 Or judges of the earth meaningless.
24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown,
no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground,
than He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.
25“To whom will you liken Me,
or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high:
Who created all these?
He leads forth the starry host by number;
He calls each one by name.
Because of His great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
27Why do you say, O Jacob,
and why do you assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?
28Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary;
His understanding is beyond searching out.
29He gives power to the faint
and increases the strength of the weak.
30Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall.
31But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength;
they will mount up with wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not faint.
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.