[[Isaiah 39|<< Isaiah 39]] | [[Isaiah|Isaiah]] | [[Isaiah 41|Isaiah 41 >>]]
### Isaiah 40
1 COMFORT ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. ^1
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins. ^2
3 ¶ The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God[†](Mark%201.md#^3). ^3
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: ^4
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see _it_ together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken _it_. ^5
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh _is_ grass, and all the goodliness thereof _is_ as the flower of the field: ^6
7 The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it: surely the people _is_ grass. ^7
8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. ^8
9 ¶ O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift _it_ up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! ^9
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong _hand_, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward _is_ with him, and his work before him. ^10
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry _them_ in his bosom, _and_ shall gently lead those that are with young. ^11
12 ¶ Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? ^12
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or _being_ his counseller has taught him? ^13
14 With whom took he counsel, and _who_ instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? ^14
15 Behold, the nations _are_ as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing. ^15
16 And Lebanon _is_ not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. ^16
17 All nations before him _are_ as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. ^17
18 ¶ To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? ^18
19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. ^19
20 He that _is_ so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree _that_ will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, _that_ shall not be moved. ^20
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? ^21
22 _It_ _is_ he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof _are_ as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in: ^22
23 That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity. ^23
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. ^24
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. ^25
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these _things_, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that _he_ _is_ strong in power; not one fails. ^26
27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? ^27
28 ¶ Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, _that_ the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? _there_ _is_ no searching of his understanding. ^28
29 He gives power to the faint; and to _them_ _that_ _have_ no might he increases strength. ^29
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: ^30
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew _their_ strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; _and_ they shall walk, and not faint. ^31