Isaiah 40
40
1 "Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!" says your God.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
3 The voice of one crying out in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight the paths of our God, in a solitary place.
4 Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked will be straightened, and the uneven will become level ways.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. And all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
6 The voice of one saying, "Cry out!" And I said, "What should I cry out?" "All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. For the Spirit of the Lord has blown over it. Truly, the people are like grass.
8 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. But the Word of our Lord remains for eternity."
9 You who evangelize Zion, climb a high mountain! You who evangelize Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah: "Behold, your God!"
10 Behold, the Lord God will arrive in strength, and his arm will rule. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him.
11 He will pasture his flock like a shepherd. He will gather together the lambs with his arm, and he will lift them up to his bosom, and he himself will carry the very young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and who has weighed the heavens with his palm? Who has suspended the mass of the earth with three fingers, and who has weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on a scale?
13 Who has assisted the Spirit of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor and has revealed things to him?
14 With whom has he consulted? And who has instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and guided him to knowledge, and revealed the way of understanding to him?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop of water in a bucket, and they are considered as the smallest grain on a balance. Behold, the islands are like a little dust.
16 And Lebanon will not be sufficient to start a fire, and its animals will not be sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations in his sight are as if they did not exist, and they are considered by him as if they were nothingness and emptiness.
18 Therefore, to whom would you liken God? Or with what image would you replace him?
19 Should the workman cast a statue? Or has the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
20 He has chosen strong wood that will not decay. The skillful artisan seeks a way to set up an idol that cannot be moved.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not understood the foundations of the earth?
22 He is the One who sits upon the globe of the earth, and its inhabitants are like locusts. He extends the heavens as if they were nothing, and he spreads them out like a tent, in which to dwell.
23 He has brought those who examine what is secret to nothingness. He has brought the judges of the earth to emptiness.
24 And certainly, their stalk was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the ground. He has suddenly blown them across them, and they have withered, and a whirlwind will carry them away like chaff.
25 "And to whom would you compare me or equate me?" says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things. He leads forth their army by number, and he calls them all by name. Because of the fullness of his strength and robustness and virtue, not one of them was left behind.
27 Why do you say this, O Jacob, and why do you speak this way, O Israel? "My way has been hidden from the Lord, and my judgment escaped notice by my God."
28 Do you not know, or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, who has created the limits of the earth. He does not diminish, and he does not struggle. Neither is his wisdom searchable.
29 It is he who gives strength to the weary, and it is he who increases fortitude and strength in those who are failing.
30 Servants will struggle and fail, and young men will fall into infirmity.
31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will take up wings like eagles. They will run and not struggle. They will walk and not tire.
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Isaiah 40: CPDV
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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.
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America