Isaiah 40

Wycliffe Bible

40 My people, be ye comforted, be ye comforted, saith your Lord God. (My people, be ye comforted, yea, be ye comforted, saith the Lord your God.)

² Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call ye [to] it, for the malice thereof is [ful]filled, the wickedness thereof is forgiven; it hath received of the hand of the Lord double things for all his sins (it hath received from the hand of the Lord double for all of its sins).

³ The voice of a crier in desert [The voice of the (one) crying in (the) desert], Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye rightful the paths of our God in wilderness. (The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make ye right the paths in the desert for our God.)

⁴ Each valley shall be enhanced, and each mountain and little hill shall be made low; and shrewd things shall be into straight things, and sharp things shall be into plane ways. (Each valley shall be lifted up, and each mountain and little hill shall be made low; and depraved, or crooked, ways shall be made into straight ways, and sharp places shall be made into smooth places.)

⁵ And the glory of the Lord shall be showed, and each man shall see together, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. (And the glory of the Lord shall be shown, and all the people shall see it together, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.)

⁶ The voice of God, saying, Cry thou. And I said, What shall I cry? Each flesh is hay, and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field. (The voice of God, saying, Cry thou. And I said, What shall I cry? And he saith, Each person is but a blade of grass, and all their life lasteth no longer than a flower in the field.)

⁷ The hay is dried up, and the flower fell down, for the spirit of the Lord blew therein. Verily the people is hay; (And the grass drieth up, and the flower falleth down, because the wind of the Lord bloweth there. Truly the people be but grass;)

⁸ the hay is dried up, and the flower fell down; but the word of the Lord dwelleth, either shall stand, without end. (and the grass drieth up, and the flower falleth down; but the word of the Lord shall stand forever.)

⁹ Thou that preachest to Zion, go upon an high hill; thou that preachest to Jerusalem, enhance thy voice in strength; enhance thou, do not thou dread; say thou to the cities of Judah, Lo! your God. (Thou who preachest to Zion, go up on a high mountain; thou who preachest to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; yea, lift thou it up, do not thou fear; say thou to the cities of Judah, Lo! your God.)

¹⁰ Lo! the Lord God shall come in strength, and his arm shall hold lordship; lo! his meed is with him, and his work is before him (lo! his reward is with him, and his work is in front of him).

¹¹ As a shepherd he shall feed his flock, he shall gather [the] lambs in(to) his arm(s), and he shall raise (them up) in(to) his bosom; he shall bear [the] sheep with lamb. (Like a shepherd he shall feed his flock, he shall gather the lambs into his arms, and he shall raise them up into his bosom; he shall gently lead the sheep that be with their young.)

¹² Who meted waters in a fist, and weighed (the) heavens with a span? Who weighed the heaviness of the earth with three fingers, and weighed [the] mountains in a weigh, and [the] little hills in a balance? (Who hath measured the waters with his fist, and weighed the heavens with the span of his hand? Who hath weighed the heaviness of the earth with three fingers, and weighed the mountains on a scale, and the little hills on a balance?)

¹³ Who helped the Spirit of the Lord, either who was his counsellor, and showed to him?

¹⁴ With whom took he counsel, and who learned him, and taught him the path of rightfulness, and learned him in knowing, and showed to him the way of prudence?

¹⁵ Lo! folks be as a drop of a bucket, and be areckoned as the tongue of a balance; lo! isles be as a little dust, (Lo! the nations be like a drop from a bucket, and be reckoned like the tongue of a balance; lo! the islands weigh but like a little dust,)

¹⁶ and the Lebanon shall not suffice to burn his sacrifice, and the beasts thereof shall not suffice to (a) burnt sacrifice. (and even all the mighty trees of Lebanon shall not suffice to burn his sacrifice, and even all its beasts shall not suffice for a burnt sacrifice.)

¹⁷ All folks be so before him, as if they be not; and they be reckoned as nothing and (as a) vain thing to him. (All the nations before him, be as if they be not; and they be reckoned as if they be nothing, yea, but like an empty and futile thing to him.)

¹⁸ To whom therefore made ye God like? either what image shall ye set to him (for comparison)?

¹⁹ Whether a smith shall weld together an image, either a goldsmith shall figure it in gold, and a worker in silver shall dight it with pieces of silver?

²⁰ A wise craftsman choose(th) a strong tree, and unable to be rotten; he seeketh how he shall ordain a simulacrum, that shall not be moved.

²¹ Whether ye know not? whether ye heard not? whether it was not told to you from the beginning? whether ye understood not (from) the foundaments of [the] earth?

²² Which sitteth on the compass of [the] earth, and the dwellers thereof be as locusts; which stretcheth forth heavens as nought, and spreadeth abroad those as a tabernacle to dwell (in). (It is he who sitteth above, or over, the roundness of the earth, and its inhabitants be like grasshoppers; it is he who stretcheth forth the heavens like a curtain, and spreadeth them abroad like a tent to live in.)

²³ Which giveth the searchers of privates, as if they be not, and [he] made the judges of [the] earth as a vain thing. (Who bringeth down the great, as if they be nothing, and who made the judges, or the rulers, of the earth but like an empty and futile thing to him.)

²⁴ And soothly when the stock of them is neither planted, neither is sown, neither is rooted in [the] earth, he blew suddenly on them, and they dried up, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. (And truly when their stock is neither planted, nor is sown, nor is rooted in the earth, he shall suddenly blow on them, and they shall all be dried up, and then a whirlwind shall take them away like stubble.)

²⁵ And to what thing have ye likened me, and have made [me] even (to)? saith the Holy (One).

²⁶ Raise [up] your eyes on high, and see ye, who made these things of nought; which leadeth out in number the knighthood of them, and calleth all by name, for the multitude of his strength, and stalworthness, and might; neither one residue thing was. (Raise up your eyes on high, and see ye, who made these things out of nothing; who leadeth their host out in number, and calleth all of them by name, for the multitude of his strength, and stalwartness, and might, and not one of them is missing.)

²⁷ Why sayest thou, Jacob, and speakest thou, Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my doom (is) passed (over) from my God? (Why sayest thou, Jacob, yea, why sayest thou, Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my cause is no longer God’s concern?)

²⁸ Whether thou knowest not, either heardest thou not? God, everlasting Lord, that made of nought the ends of [the] earth, shall not fail, neither shall travail, neither ensearching of his wisdom is. (Knowest thou not, or heardest thou not? God, the everlasting Lord, who made the ends of the earth out of nothing, shall not faint, nor grow tired, and there is no one who understandeth his wisdom.)

²⁹ That giveth strength to the weary, and strength to them that be not, and multiplieth stalworthness. (He who giveth strength to the weary, and strength to those who have it not, and multiplieth stalwartness.)

³⁰ (Some) Young men shall fail, and shall travail, and (other) young men shall fall down in their sickness.

³¹ But they that hope in the Lord, shall change strength, they shall take feathers as eagles; they shall run, and shall not travail; they shall go, and shall not fail. (But they who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall grow wings like eagles; they shall run, and shall not labour, or struggle; they shall go, and shall not faint.)