40:1 “Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
40:2 “Speak ①kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her ②warfare has ended,
That her ③guilt has been removed,
That she has received of the LORD’S hand
Double for all her sins.”
▷ ①Lit to the heart of ②Or hard service ③Or penalty of guilt accepted as paid off
40:3 The voice of one calling out,
“Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
Make ①straight in the desert a highway for our God.
▷ ①Or smooth
40:4 Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the uneven ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
40:5 ①Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
▷ ①Or In order that the
40:6 A voice says, “Call out.”
Then ①he answered, “What shall I call out?”
All flesh is grass, and all its ②loveliness is like the flower of the field.
▷ ①Another reading is I said ②Or constancy
40:7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
①When the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
The people are indeed grass!
▷ ①Or Because
40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.
40:9 Go up on a high mountain,
Zion, messenger of good news,
Raise your voice forcefully,
Jerusalem, messenger of good news;
Raise it up, do not fear.
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
40:10 Behold, the Lord ①GOD will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His compensation is with Him,
And His reward before Him.
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD
40:11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in the fold of His robe;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
40:12 Who has measured the ①waters in the hollow of His hand,
And measured the heavens with a ②span,
And ③calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,
And weighed the mountains in a balance
And the hills in a pair of scales?
▷ ①DSS reads waters of the sea ②Or half cubit (9 in. or 22.8 cm) ③Lit contained; or comprehended
40:13 Who has ①directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has informed Him?
▷ ①Or measured, marked off
40:14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?
And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge,
And informed Him of the way of understanding?
40:15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Behold, He lifts up the ①islands like fine dust.
▷ ①Or coastlands
40:16 Even Lebanon is not enough to ①burn,
Nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.
▷ ①I.e., for fire on an altar
40:17 All the nations are as nothing before Him,
They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and ①meaningless.
▷ ①Or void
40:18 To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
40:19 As for the ①idol, a craftsman casts it,
A goldsmith plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
▷ ①Or carved image
40:20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To ①prepare ②an idol that will not totter.
▷ ①Or set up ②Or a carved image
40:21 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
40:22 It is He who ①sits above the ②circle 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 live in.
▷ ①Or is enthroned ②Or vault
40:23 It is He who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth ①meaningless.
▷ ①Or void
40:24 ①Scarcely have they been planted,
②Scarcely have they been sown,
③Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.
▷ ①Or Not even ②Or Not even ③Or Not even
40:25 “To whom then will you compare Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
40:26 Raise your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who brings out their ①multitude by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the ②strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.
▷ ①Lit host ②As in DSS and ancient versions; MT strong
40:27 Why do you say, Jacob, and you assert, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
And the justice due me ①escapes the notice of my God”?
▷ ①Lit passes by my God
40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is unsearchable.
40:29 He gives strength to the weary,
And to the one who lacks might He increases power.
40:30 Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
40:31 Yet those who ①wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will ②mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
▷ ①Or hope in ②Or sprout wings