Isaiah 40:15-42:5

English Standard Version

^18 (E)To whom then will you liken God,
    ^(F)or what likeness compare with him?
^19 (G)An idol! A craftsman casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and casts for it silver chains.
^20 (H)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 (I)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?
²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are ^(J)like grasshoppers;
^(K)who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
^23 (L)who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

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

^25 (N)To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
^(O)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.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
^(P)“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    ^(Q)and my right is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is ^(R)the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    ^(S)his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but ^(T)they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings ^(U)like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

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

^5 (AD)The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
    the ends of the earth tremble;
    they have drawn near and come.
⁶ Everyone helps his neighbor
    and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
^7 (AE)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 ^(AF)so that it cannot be moved.

⁸ But you, Israel, ^(AG)my servant,
    Jacob, ^(AH)whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, ^(AI)my friend;
⁹ you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called ^(AJ)from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ^(AK)my servant,
    ^(AL)I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
¹⁰ fear 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 ^(AM)my righteous right hand.

^11 (AN)Behold, all who are incensed against you
    shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
    shall be as nothing and shall perish.
^12 (AO)You shall seek those who contend with you,
    but you shall not find them;
^(AP)those who war against you
    shall be as nothing at all.
¹³ For I, the Lord your God,
    hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
    I am the one who helps you.”

¹⁴ Fear not, you ^(AQ)worm Jacob,
    you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
    your ^(AR)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
^15 (AS)Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
    new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh ^(AT)the mountains and crush them,
    and you shall make the hills like chaff;
^16 (AU)you shall winnow them, and ^(AV)the wind shall carry them away,
    and the tempest shall scatter them.
^(AW)And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

^17 (AX)When the poor and needy seek water,
    and there is none,
    and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
^18 (AY)I will open rivers on the bare heights,
    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
^(AZ)I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
    and the dry land springs of water.
^19 (BA)I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert ^(BB)the cypress,
    the plane and the pine together,
²⁰ that they may see and know,
    may consider and understand together,
that ^(BC)the hand of the Lord has done this,
    the Holy One of Israel has created it.

^25 (BH)I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
    ^(BI)from the rising of the sun, ^(BJ)and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
    as the potter treads clay.
^26 (BK)Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
    none who heard your words.
^27 (BL)I was the first to say^[d] to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
    and ^(BM)I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
^28 (BN)But when I look, there is no one;
    among these there is no counselor
    who, when I ask, gives an answer.
^29 (BO)Behold, they are all a delusion;
    their works are nothing;
    their metal images are empty wind.

⁵ Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens ^(BX)and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
^(BY)who gives breath to the people on it
    and spirit to those who walk in it: