Isaiah 40
New King James Version
God’s People Are Comforted(A)
40 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “Speak [a]comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
(B)For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
3 (C)The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
(D)“Prepare the way of the Lord;
(E)Make straight [b]in the desert
A highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
(F)The crooked places shall be made [c]straight
And the rough places smooth;
5 The (G)glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 The voice said, “Cry out!”
And [d]he said, “What shall I cry?”
(H)“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But (I)the word of our God stands forever.”
9 O 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!”
10 Behold, the Lord God shall come [e]with a strong hand,
And (J)His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, (K)His reward is with Him,
And His [f]work before Him.
11 He will (L)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.
12 (M)Who has measured the [g]waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a [h]span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13 (N)Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And (O)taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, 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.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before Him are as (P)nothing,
And (Q)they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
18 To whom then will you (R)liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19 (S)The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
20 Whoever is too impoverished for such [i]a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
(T)To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
21 (U)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?
22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who (V)stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a (W)tent to dwell in.
23 He [j]brings the (X)princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
24 Scarcely 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(Y) whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
(Z)He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
27 (AA)Why 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”?
28 Have 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.
(AB)His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who (AC)wait on the Lord
(AD)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.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 40:2 Lit. to the heart of
- Isaiah 40:3 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; LXX omits in the desert
- Isaiah 40:4 Or a plain
- Isaiah 40:6 So with MT, Tg.; DSS, LXX, Vg. I
- Isaiah 40:10 in strength
- Isaiah 40:10 recompense
- Isaiah 40:12 So with MT, LXX, Vg.; DSS adds of the sea; Tg. adds of the world
- Isaiah 40:12 A span .5 cubit, 9 inches; or the width of His hand
- Isaiah 40:20 an offering
- Isaiah 40:23 reduces
Isaiah 40
GOD’S WORD Translation
Comfort My People
40 “Comfort my people! Comfort them!” says your God.
2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to it
that its time of hard labor is over
and its wrongs have been paid for.
It has received from the Lord double for all its sins.”
3 A voice cries out in the desert:
“Clear a way for the Lord.
Make a straight highway in the wilderness for our God.
4 Every valley will be raised.
Every mountain and hill will be lowered.
Steep places will be made level.
Rough places will be made smooth.
5 Then the Lord’s glory will be revealed
and all people will see it together.
The Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice called, “Call out!”
I asked, “What should I call out?”
“Call out: All people are like grass,
and all their beauty is like a flower in the field.
7 Grass dries up,
and flowers wither when the Lord’s breath blows on them.
Yes, people are like grass.
8 Grass dries up,
and flowers wither,
but our God’s word will last forever.”
9 Go up a high mountain, Zion.
Tell the good news!
Call out with a loud voice, Jerusalem.
Tell the good news!
Raise your voice without fear.
Tell the cities of Judah:
“Here is your God!”
10 The Almighty Lord is coming with power
to rule with authority.
His reward is with him,
and the people he has won arrive ahead of him.
11 Like a shepherd he takes care of his flock.
He gathers the lambs in his arms.
He carries them in his arms.
He gently helps the sheep and their lambs.
God Gives Strength to Those Who Depend on Him
12 Who has measured the water of the sea [a] with the palm of his hand
or measured the sky with the length of his hand?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a bushel basket
or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills on a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord
or instructed him as his adviser?
14 Whom did he consult?
Who gave him understanding?
Who taught him the right way?
Who taught him knowledge?
Who informed him about the way to understanding?
15 The nations are like a drop in a bucket
and are considered to be like dust on a scale.
The weight of the islands is like fine dust.
16 All the trees in Lebanon are not enough to burn an offering.
Its wild animals are not enough for a single burnt offering.
17 All the nations amount to nothing in his presence.
He considers them less than nothing and worthless.
18 To whom, then, can you compare God?
To what statue can you compare him?
19 Craftsmen make idols.
Goldsmiths cover them with gold.
Silversmiths make silver chains for them.
20 The poorest people choose wood that will not rot
and search out skillful craftsmen
to set up idols that will not fall over.
21 Don’t you know?
Haven’t you heard?
Haven’t you been told from the beginning?
Don’t you understand the foundations of the earth?
22 God is enthroned above the earth,
and those who live on it are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the sky like a canopy
and spreads it out like a tent to live in.
23 He makes rulers unimportant
and makes earthly judges worth nothing.
24 They have hardly been planted.
They have hardly been sown.
They have hardly taken root in the ground.
Then he blows on them and they wither,
and a windstorm sweeps them away like straw.
25 “To whom, then, can you compare me?
Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look at the sky and see.
Who created these things?
Who brings out the stars one by one?
He calls them all by name.
Because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power,
not one of them is missing.
27 Jacob, why do you complain?
Israel, why do you say,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my rights are ignored by my God”?
28 Don’t you know?
Haven’t you heard?
The eternal God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
doesn’t grow tired or become weary.
His understanding is beyond reach.
29 He gives strength to those who grow tired
and increases the strength of those who are weak.
30 Even young people grow tired and become weary,
and young men will stumble and fall.
31 Yet, the strength of those who wait with hope in the Lord
will be renewed.
They will soar on wings like eagles.
They will run and won’t become weary.
They will walk and won’t grow tired.
Footnotes
- 40:12 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text “Who has measured the water.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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