Isaiah 40
40
Words of Hope
1“Comfort my people,” says our God. “Comfort them!
2Encourage the people of Jerusalem.
Tell them they have suffered long enough
and their sins are now forgiven.#40.2 and their sins are now forgiven; or they have paid for what they did.
I have punished them in full for all their sins.”
3 #
Mt 3.3; Mk 1.3; Jn 1.23 #
Lk 3.4–6
A voice cries out,
“Prepare in the wilderness a road for the LORD!
Clear the way in the desert for our God!
4Fill every valley;
level every mountain.
The hills will become a plain,
and the rough country will be made smooth.
5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and the whole human race will see it.
The LORD himself has promised this.”
6 #
Jas 1.10–11; 1 Pet 1.24–25 A voice cries out, “Proclaim a message!”
“What message shall I proclaim?” I ask.
“Proclaim that all human beings are like grass;
they last no longer than wild flowers.
7Grass withers and flowers fade,
when the LORD sends the wind blowing over them.
People are no more enduring than grass.
8Yes, grass withers and flowers fade,
but the word of our God endures for ever.”
9Jerusalem, go up on a high mountain
and proclaim the good news!
Call out with a loud voice, Zion;
announce the good news!#40.9 Jerusalem, go up… news!; or Go up on a high mountain and proclaim the good news to Jerusalem! Call out with a loud voice and announce the good news to Zion!
Speak out and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah
that their God is coming!
10 #
Is 62.11; Rev 22.12 The Sovereign LORD is coming to rule with power,
bringing with him the people he has rescued.#40.10 the people he has rescued; or the rewards he has for his people.
11 #
Ezek 34.15; Jn 10.11 He will take care of his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs together
and carry them in his arms;
he will gently lead their mothers.
Israel's Incomparable God
12Can anyone measure the ocean by handfuls
or measure the sky with his hands?
Can anyone hold the soil of the earth in a cup
or weigh the mountains and hills on scales?
13 #
Rom 11.34; 1 Cor 2.16 Can anyone tell the LORD what to do?
Who can teach him or give him advice?
14With whom does God consult
in order to know and understand
and to learn how things should be done?
15To the LORD the nations are nothing,
no more than a drop of water;
the distant islands are as light as dust.
16All the animals in the forests of Lebanon
are not enough for a sacrifice to our God,
and its trees are too few to kindle the fire.
17The nations are nothing at all to him.
18 #
Acts 17.29
To whom can God be compared?
How can you describe what he is like?
19He is not like an idol that workmen make,
that metalworkers cover with gold
and set in a base of silver.
20The man who cannot afford silver or gold#40.20 Verses 19–20a in Hebrew are unclear.
chooses wood that will not rot.
He finds a skilful craftsman
to make an image that won't fall down.
21Do you not know?
Were you not told long ago?
Have you not heard how the world began?
22It was made by the one who sits on his throne
above the earth and beyond the sky;
the people below look as tiny as ants.
He stretched out the sky like a curtain,
like a tent in which to live.
23He brings down powerful rulers
and reduces them to nothing.
24They are like young plants,
just set out and barely rooted.
When the LORD sends a wind,
they dry up and blow away like straw.
25To whom can the holy God be compared?
Is there anyone else like him?
26Look up at the sky!
Who created the stars you see?
The one who leads them out like an army,
he knows how many there are
and calls each one by name!
His power is so great —
not one of them is ever missing!
27Israel, why then do you complain
that the LORD doesn't know your troubles
or care if you suffer injustice?
28Don't you know? Haven't you heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God;
he created all the world.
He never grows tired or weary.
No one understands his thoughts.
29He strengthens those who are weak and tired.
30Even those who are young grow weak;
young people can fall exhausted.
31But those who trust in the LORD for help
will find their strength renewed.
They will rise on wings like eagles;
they will run and not get weary;
they will walk and not grow weak.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 40
40
1“Comfort, comfort My people!” says your Elohim.
2“Speak to the heart of Yerushalayim, and cry out to her, that her hard service is completed, that her crookedness is pardoned, that she has received from the hand of יהוה double for all her sins.”
3The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of יהוה; make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohim.
4“Let every valley be raised, and every mountain and hill made low. And the steep ground shall become level, and the rough places smooth.
5“And the esteem of יהוה shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see it. For the mouth of יהוה has spoken.”
6The voice said, “Cry out!” and he said, “What do I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all its loving-commitment is like the flower of the field.
7“Grass shall wither, the flower shall fade, when the Spirit of יהוה has blown on it! Truly the people is grass!
8“Grass shall wither, the flower shall fade, but the Word of our Elohim stands forever.”#See 1Pe. 1:24, 25
9You who bring good news to Tsiyon, get up into the high mountain. You who bring good news to Yerushalayim, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of Yehuḏah, “See your Elohim!”
10See, the Master יהוה comes with strength, and His arm rules for Him. See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.
11He feeds His flock like a shepherd, He gathers the lambs with His arm, and carries them in His bosom, gently leading those who are with young.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured the heavens with a span, and contained the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
13Who has meted out the Spirit of יהוה, or as His counsellor taught Him?
14With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of right-ruling? Who taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding?
15See, nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are reckoned as dust on the balance. See, He lifts up isles as fine dust.
16And Leḇanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for an ascending offering.
17All nations before Him are as a non-entity, and they are reckoned by Him as less than a speck, and emptiness.
18And to whom would you liken Ěl? And what likeness would you compare to Him?
19The workman moulds a graven image, and the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the silversmith casts silver chains.
20He who is too poor for such an offering chooses a tree that does not rot. He seeks for himself a skilled craftsman to prepare a carved image that does not totter.
21Did you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
23who brings princes to naught, shall make the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
24Hardly have they been planted, hardly have they been sown, hardly has their stock taken root in the earth, when He shall blow on them and they wither, and a whirlwind take them away like stubble.
25“And to whom then do you liken Me, or to whom am I compared?” says the Set-apart One.
26Lift up your eyes on high and see. Who has created these? He is bringing out their host by number, He calls them all by name, by the greatness of ability and potent of power, a man is not lacking.
27Why do you say, O Ya‛aqoḇ, and speak, O Yisra’ĕl, “My way is hidden from יהוה, and my rights are overlooked by my Elohim”?
28Did you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting Elohim, יהוה, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the faint, and to those who have no might He increases strength.
30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men stumble and fall,
31but those who wait on יהוה renew their strength, they raise up the wing like eagles, they run and are not weary, they walk and do not faint.
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