Isaiah 40
Comfort My People — A Voice Cries in the Wilderness
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Comfort, Comfort My People
40:1“Comfort, comfort My people,” says God.
40:2“Priests, speak to Jerusalem’s heart; comfort her, for her humiliation is complete and her sin is released, for she received from the Lord’s hand double her sins.”
40:3A voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the Lord’s way; make our God’s paths straight.
40:4Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill lowered; all crooked places will become straight, and rough ground plains.
40:5The Lord’s glory will appear, and all flesh will see God’s salvation, for the Lord has spoken.”
40:6A voice of one saying, “Cry out!” I said, “What shall I cry out?” “All flesh is grass, and every human glory like a grass flower.
40:7The grass dried, and the flower fell,
40:8but our God’s word remains forever.”
Go Up a High Mountain, Bringer of Good News
40:9Go up a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion. Raise your voice with strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem. Raise it, all of you; do not fear. Tell Judah’s cities, “Look, your God!”
40:10Look, the Lord comes with strength, and His arm with dominion. Look, His reward is with Him and His work before Him.
40:11Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, gather lambs with His arm, and comfort those that are pregnant.
40:12Who measured the water with His hand, heaven with a span, and all the earth with a handful? Who weighed mountains with a weight and wooded valleys with a balance?
Who Knew the Lord’s Mind?
40:13Who knew the Lord’s mind, and who became His counselor to instruct Him?
40:14With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him? Who showed Him judgment, or who showed Him the way of understanding?
40:15If all the nations were counted like a drop from a bucket and like a scale’s slight tipping, they will also be counted like spittle.
40:16Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, nor all the four-footed animals sufficient for a whole burnt offering,
40:17and all the nations are as nothing and were counted as nothing.
40:18To whom did you liken the Lord, and to what likeness did you liken Him?
40:19Did a craftsman make an image, or did a goldsmith melt gold and gild it, fashioning it as a likeness?
40:20For a craftsman chooses wood that will not rot and skillfully seeks how to set up his image so that it will not shake.
Was It Not Declared from the Beginning?
40:21Will you not know? Will you not hear? Was it not announced to you from the beginning? Did you not know the earth’s foundations?
40:22He holds the earth’s circuit, and its inhabitants are like locusts. He set heaven like a vault and stretched it out like a tent to dwell in.
40:23He gives rulers nothing to rule and made the earth as nothing.
40:24For they will certainly not sow or plant, nor will their root take hold in the earth. He blew on them, and they dried; a storm will carry them away like brushwood.
To Whom Did You Liken Me?
40:25“Now then, to whom did you liken Me, and shall I be exalted?” said the Holy One.
40:26Lift your eyes on high and see: Who displayed all these? He brings out His array by number and will call all by name. From abundant glory and in strength’s might, nothing escaped you.
40:27Do not say, Jacob—and why did you declare, Israel—“My way was hidden from God, and my God removed judgment and departed”?
40:28And now, did you not know, if you have not heard? God is eternal, the God who fashioned the earth’s extremities. He will not hunger or grow weary, and His understanding cannot be discovered.
Strength for Those Who Endure for God
40:29He gives strength to the hungry, and grief to those who are not in pain.
40:30For younger people will hunger, young men will grow weary, and chosen men will be without strength.
40:31But those enduring for God will exchange their strength and grow wings like eagles. They will run without growing weary and walk without hunger.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.