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.
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Isaiah 40: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Isaiah 40
40
XL
1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God:
2Speak ye things pleasing to the heart of Jerusalem, and declare unto her,
That her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity hath been expiated;
That she hath received at the hand of Jehovah
Double for all her sins.
3A voice crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of Jehovah,
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be exalted,
And every mountain and bill shall be made low,
And the crooked shall become Straight;
And the rough places a smooth plain:
5And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall See together
That the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.
6A voice saith, Proclaim!
And he said, What shall I proclaim?
All flesh is grass,
And all his goodliness like the flower of the field:
7The grass withereth, the flower fadeth,
When the spirit of Jehovah bloweth upon it:
Surely the people is grass.
8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth;
But the word of God shall stand for ever.
9Get thee up upon a high mountain, O Zion, that bringest good tidings:
Lift up thy voice with strength, O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings;
Lift it up; be not afraid:
Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10Behold, the Lord. Jehovah shall come with might,
And his arm shall rule for him:
Behold, his reward is with him;
And the recompense of his word is before him.
11He shall feed his flock, like a shepherd;
In his arm shall he gather up the lambs,
And in his bosom carry them;
The nursing ewes shall he gently lead.
12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
And hath meted out the heavens with a span;
And hath comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,
And hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13Who hath searched out the Spirit of Jehovah,
Or being his counsellor hath taught him?
14With whom took he counsel, that he should instruct him;
And teach him in the path of judgment;
And teach him knowledge,
And shew to him the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are as a drop from the bucket;
And as the small dust on a balance shall they be accounted:
Behold, the isles are as an atom which flitteth away.
16And Lebanon is not sufficient to supply fire,
Nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering.
17All the nations are before him, as though they were nought;
They are accounted by Him as less than nought and vanity.
18To whom then will ye liken God?
Or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
19The workman casteth an image,
And the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold;
And forgeth for it chains of silver.
20He that is too poor to make a costly oblation chooseth him a piece of wood that will not rot;
He seeketh unto him a skilful workman,
To erect an image which shall not be moved.
21Have ye not known? have ye not heard?
Hath it not been told you from the beginning?
Have ye not understood it from the foundations of the earth?
22He it is who sitteth upon the circle of the earth,
And the inhabitants thereof are as locusts:
Who stretcheth out the heavens, like a canopy;
And spreadeth them out, as a tent to dwell in:
23Who reduceth princes to nothing;
Who maketh the rulers of the earth as vanity.
24Yea, they shall not scarcely be planted; yea, they shall not scarcely be sown;
Yea, their trunk shall not scarcely take root in the earth;
And yet should He but blow upon them, they wither;
And the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.
25To whom then will ye liken me?
And to whom shall I be equalled? saith the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high,
And behold who hath created these things;
Who bringeth out their hosts by number,
Who calleth them all by name:
Through multitude of strength, and might of power,
Not one of them is missing.
27Why sayest thou, O Jacob,
And speakest, O Israel:
My way is hidden from Jehovah,
And my cause passeth unregarded by my God?
28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard,
That the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
Fainteth not, neither is weary?
There is no searching out of his understanding.
29He giveth power to the faint,
And to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall;
31But they that wait upon Jehovah shall gather new strength;
They shall mount up with wings as eagles;
They shall run, and not be weary,
They shall walk, and not faint.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.