Isaiah 40-
God's People Are Comforted
The Majesty of the LORD
(1)
1 "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!"
Says your God.
2"Speak comfort to
Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the LORD's
hand
Double for all her sins."
3The voice of one crying
in the wilderness:
"Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert[1]
A highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be
exalted
And every mountain and hill brought
low;
The crooked places shall be made
straight
And the rough places smooth;
5The glory of the LORD
shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has
spoken."
6The voice said, "Cry
out!"
And he[2]
said, "What shall I cry?"
"All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the
flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the
flower fades,
Because the breath of the LORD blows
upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8The grass withers, the
flower fades,
But the word of our God stands
forever."
9O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah,
"Behold your God!"
10Behold, the Lord GOD
shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11He will feed His flock
like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His
arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with
young.
12Who has measured the
waters[3] in the hollow of His
hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth
in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13Who has directed the
Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
14With whom did He take
counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of
justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of
understanding?
15Behold, the nations are
as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on
the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very
little thing.
16And Lebanon is not
sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt
offering.
17All nations before Him
are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than
nothing and worthless.
18To whom then will you
liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to
Him?
19The workman molds an
image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with
gold,
And the silversmith casts silver
chains.
20Whoever is too
impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful
workman
To prepare a carved image that will
not totter.
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 out like a tent to
dwell in.
23He brings the princes to
nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth
useless.
24Scarcely shall they be
planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root
in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away
like stubble.
25"To whom then will
you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?"
says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on
high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
27Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
"My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by
my God"?
28Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the
weak,
And to those who have no might He
increases strength.
30Even the youths shall
faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31But those who wait on
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.
Background Music - Pachelbel's Canon in D