Isaiah 40:18-41:10

English Standard Version

¹⁸^(A)To whom then will you liken God,
    ^(B)or what likeness compare with him?
¹⁹^(C)An idol! A craftsman casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and casts for it silver chains.
²⁰^(D)He who is too impoverished for an offering
    chooses wood^[a] that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
    to set up an idol that will not move.

²¹^(E)Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    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 ^(F)like grasshoppers;
^(G)who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
²³^(H)who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
^(I)and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵^(J)To 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?
^(K)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,
^(L)“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    ^(M)and my right is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is ^(N)the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    ^(O)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 ^(P)they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings ^(Q)like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41 ^(R)Listen to me in silence, ^(S)O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.

²^(T)Who stirred up one from the east
    whom victory meets at every ^(U)step?^[b]
^(V)He gives up nations before him,
    so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
    ^(W)like driven stubble with his bow.
³He pursues them and passes on safely,
    by paths his feet have not trod.
⁴^(X)Who has performed and done this,
    calling the generations from the beginning?
^(Y)I, the Lord, the first,
    and with the last; I am he.

⁵^(Z)The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
    the ends of the earth tremble;
    they have drawn near and come.
⁶Everyone helps his neighbor
    and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
⁷^(AA)The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
    and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
    and they strengthen it with nails ^(AB)so that it cannot be moved.

⁸But you, Israel, ^(AC)my servant,
    Jacob, ^(AD)whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, ^(AE)my friend;
⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called ^(AF)from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ^(AG)my servant,
    ^(AH)I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
¹⁰fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with ^(AI)my righteous right hand.