Isaiah 40
Good News Translation
Words of Hope
40 “Comfort my people,” says our God. “Comfort them!
2 Encourage the people of Jerusalem.
Tell them they have suffered long enough
and their sins are now forgiven.[a]
I have punished them in full for all their sins.”
3 (A)A voice cries out,
“Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord!
Clear the way in the desert for our God!
4 Fill every valley;
level every mountain.
The hills will become a plain,
and the rough country will be made smooth.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it.
The Lord himself has promised this.”
6 (B)A voice cries out, “Proclaim a message!”
“What message shall I proclaim?” I ask.
“Proclaim that all human beings are like grass;
they last no longer than wild flowers.
7 Grass withers and flowers fade
when the Lord sends the wind blowing over them.
People are no more enduring than grass.
8 Yes, grass withers and flowers fade,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
9 Jerusalem, go up on a high mountain
and proclaim the good news!
Call out with a loud voice, Zion;
announce the good news![b]
Speak out and do not be afraid.
Tell the towns of Judah
that their God is coming!
10 (C)The Sovereign Lord is coming to rule with power,
bringing with him the people he has rescued.[c]
11 (D)He will take care of his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs together
and carry them in his arms;
he will gently lead their mothers.
Israel's Incomparable God
12 Can anyone measure the ocean by handfuls
or measure the sky with his hands?
Can anyone hold the soil of the earth in a cup
or weigh the mountains and hills on scales?
13 (E)Can anyone tell the Lord what to do?
Who can teach him or give him advice?
14 With whom does God consult
in order to know and understand
and to learn how things should be done?
15 (F)To the Lord the nations are nothing,
no more than a drop of water;
the distant islands are as light as dust.
16 All the animals in the forests of Lebanon
are not enough for a sacrifice to our God,
and its trees are too few to kindle the fire.
17 The nations are nothing at all to him.
18 (G)To whom can God be compared?
How can you describe what he is like?
19 He is not like an idol that workers make,
that metalworkers cover with gold
and set in a base of silver.
20 (H)Anyone who cannot afford silver or gold[d]
chooses wood that will not rot.
He finds a skillful worker
to make an image that won't fall down.
21 Do you not know?
Were you not told long ago?
Have you not heard how the world began?
22 It was made by the one who sits on his throne
above the earth and beyond the sky;
the people below look as tiny as ants.
He stretched out the sky like a curtain,
like a tent in which to live.
23 He brings down powerful rulers
and reduces them to nothing.
24 They are like young plants,
just set out and barely rooted.
When the Lord sends a wind,
they dry up and blow away like straw.
25 To whom can the holy God be compared?
Is there anyone else like him?
26 (I)Look up at the sky!
Who created the stars you see?
The one who leads them out like an army,
he knows how many there are
and calls each one by name!
His power is so great—
not one of them is ever missing!
27 Israel, why then do you complain
that the Lord doesn't know your troubles
or care if you suffer injustice?
28 Don't you know? Haven't you heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God;
he created all the world.
He never grows tired or weary.
No one understands his thoughts.
29 He strengthens those who are weak and tired.
30 Even those who are young grow weak;
young people can fall exhausted.
31 But those who trust in the Lord for help
will find their strength renewed.
They will rise on wings like eagles;
they will run and not get weary;
they will walk and not grow weak.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 40:2 and their sins are now forgiven; or they have paid for what they did.
- Isaiah 40:9 Jerusalem, go up … news!; or Go up on a high mountain and proclaim the good news to Jerusalem! Call out with a loud voice and announce the good news to Zion!
- Isaiah 40:10 the people he has rescued; or the rewards he has for his people.
- Isaiah 40:20 Verses 19-20a in Hebrew are unclear.
Isaiah 40
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s People Are Comforted
40 Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.(A)
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.(B)
3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.(C)
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.(D)
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I said,[a] “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass;
their constancy is like the flower of the field.(E)
7 The grass withers; the flower fades,
[[when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.(F)
8 The grass withers; the flower fades,]][b]
but the word of our God will stand forever.(G)
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;[c]
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;[d]
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”(H)
10 See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him
and his recompense before him.(I)
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms
and carry them in his bosom
and gently lead the mother sheep.(J)
12 Who has measured the waters of the sea[e] in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?(K)
13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord
or as his counselor has instructed him?(L)
14 Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice?
[[Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket
and are accounted as dust on the scales;
see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.(M)
16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.]][f]
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.(N)
18 To whom, then, will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?(O)
19 An idol? A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.(P)
20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood[g]
—wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
to set up an image that will not topple.(Q)
21 Have 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?(R)
22 It 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 like a tent to live in,(S)
23 who brings princes to naught
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.(T)
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.(U)
25 To whom, then, will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.(V)
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.(W)
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?(X)
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.(Y)
29 He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.(Z)
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for 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.(AA)
Isaiah 40
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
40 Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
3 The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
6 The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the held.
7 The grass is withered, and the dower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:
8 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.
9 Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God:
10 Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.
12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him?
14 With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.
16 And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him?
19 Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
20 He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skillful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.
21 Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
23 He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith the Holy One?
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.
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?
28 Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.
29 It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not.
30 Youths shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by infirmity.
31 But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
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