Isaiah 40
40
Israel’s Punishment Will End
1Your God says,
“Comfort, comfort my people.
2Speak kindly to Jerusalem and tell her,
‘Your time of service is finished.
You have paid the price for your sins.’
I, the Lord, have punished you twice
for every sin you committed.”
3Listen, there is someone shouting:
“Prepare a way in the desert for the Lord.
Make a straight road there for our God.
4Every valley must be filled.
Every mountain and hill should be made flat.
The crooked roads should be made straight,
and the rough ground made smooth.
5Then the Glory of the Lord will be shown to everyone.
Together, all people will see it.
Yes, this is what the Lord himself said!”
6A voice said, “Speak!”
So the man said, “What should I say?”
The voice said, “People are like grass.
Any glory they enjoy is like a wildflower.
7When a wind from the Lord blows on them,
the grass dies and the flower falls.
Yes, all people are like grass.
8Grass dies and flowers fall,
but the word of our God lasts forever.”
Salvation: God’s Good News
9Zion, you have good news to tell.
Go up on a high mountain and shout the good news.
Jerusalem, you have good news to tell.
Don’t be afraid; speak loudly.
Tell this news to all the cities of Judah:
“Look, here is your God!”
10The Lord GOD is coming with power.
He will use his power to rule all the people.
He will bring rewards for his people.
He will have their payment with him.
11Like a good shepherd, he takes care of his people.
He gathers them like lambs in his arms.
He holds them close, while their mothers walk beside him.
God Made the World; He Rules It
12Who measured the oceans in the palm of his hand?
Who used his hand to measure the sky?
Who used a bowl to measure all the dust of the earth?
Who used scales to measure the mountains and hills?
13Who could know the Lord’s mind?
Who could be his teacher or give him advice?
14Did the Lord ask for anyone’s help?
Did anyone teach him to be fair?
Did anyone teach him knowledge?
Did anyone teach him to be wise?
15Look, all the nations in the world are like one small drop in the bucket.
If the Lord took all the faraway nations and put them on his scales,
they would be like small pieces of dust.
16All the trees in Lebanon are not enough
to burn on the altar for the Lord.
And all the animals in Lebanon
are not enough to kill for a sacrifice.
17Compared to God, all the nations of the world are nothing.
Compared to him, they are worth nothing at all.
People Cannot Imagine What God Is Like
18Can you compare God to anything?
Can you make a picture of God?
19No, but some people make statues from rock or wood,
and they call them gods.
One worker makes a statue.
Then another worker covers it with gold and makes silver chains for it.
20For the base he chooses special wood,
a kind of wood that will not rot.
Then he finds a good wood worker,
and the worker makes a “god” that will not fall over.
21Surely you know the truth, don’t you?
Surely you have heard.
Surely someone told you long ago.
Surely you understand who made the earth.
22It is the Lord who sits above the circle of the earth.
And compared to him, people are like grasshoppers.
He rolled open the skies like a piece of cloth.
He stretched out the skies like a tent to sit under.
23He takes away the power of rulers.
He makes the world’s leaders completely worthless.
24They are like plants that are planted in the ground.
But before they can send their roots into the ground,
God blows on the “plants”;
they become dead and dry,
and the wind blows them away like straw.
25The Holy One says, “Can you compare me to anyone?
No one is equal to me.”
26Look up to the skies.
Who created all those stars?
Who created all those “armies” in the sky?
Who knows every star by name?
He is very strong and powerful,
so not one of these stars is lost.
27People of Jacob, this is true.
Israel, you should believe it.
So why do you say, “The Lord cannot see the way I live;
he will not find me and punish me”#40:27 The Lord … punish me Or “My way is hidden from the Lord; he ignores my case.”?
28Surely you know the truth.
Surely you have heard.
The Lord is the God who lives forever!
He created all the faraway places on earth.
He does not get tired and weary.
You cannot learn all he knows.
29He helps tired people be strong.
He gives power to those without it.
30Young men get tired and need to rest.
Even young boys stumble and fall.
31But those who trust in the Lord will become strong again.
They will be like eagles that grow new feathers.#40:31 like … feathers This probably refers to the ancient belief that eagles regain their youth when they molt (lose and grow back their feathers). See Ps. 103:5. This line could also be translated, “They will rise up like eagles on their wings.”
They will run and not get weak.
They will walk and not get tired.
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 40: ERV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 40
40
1Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare#40.2 Or time of service is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
3 #
Mt 3.3; Mk 1.3; Lk 3.4; Jn 1.23. A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 #
Lk 3.5-6. Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 #
1 Pet 1.24-25. A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people is grass.
8The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.
9 #
Is 52.7; Nah 1.15; Acts 10.36; Rom 10.15. Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;#40.9 Or O herald of good tidings to Zion
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,#40.9 Or O herald of good tidings to Jerusalem
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 #
Rev 22.7,12. Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13 #
Rom 11.34; 1 Cor 2.16. Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
or as his counselor has instructed him?
14Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
16Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19The idol! a workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,
and casts for it silver chains.
20He who is impoverished#40.20 Heb uncertain chooses for an offering
wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skilful craftsman
to set up an image that will not move.
21Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told 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 like a tent to dwell in;
23who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.
27Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hid from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
his understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America