Comfort for God’s People

• 2 “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her,that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for,
  • that she has[fn] from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins.”
  • 3 is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!
  • 4  and every mountain and hill shall become low,
• And the rough ground shall be like a plain,
  • and the rugged ground like a valley-plain.
  • 5  and all[fn] together shall see it,

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

• 6 is saying, “Call!” And he said, “What shall I call?”
• All[fn] are grass,
  • and all his loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
• 7 the flower withers when the breath of Yahweh blows on it.
  • Surely the people are grass.
  • 8 the flower withers, but[fn] the word of our God will stand forever.
  • 9 [fn] up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news!
• Lift it up; you must not fear!
  • Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
  • 10 [fn] and his arm rules for him.
• Look! His reward is with him,
  • and his recompense[fn]
  • 11  he will gather the lambs in his arm,
• and he will carry them in his bosom;
  • he will lead those who nurse.
  • 12 the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span,
• comprehended the dust of the earth in a third of a measure
  • and weighed out the mountains in the scales,[fn] and the hills in a balance?
  • 13  or informed him as[fn]?
  • 14 [fn] he enlightened him[fn] and taught him the path of justice,
• and taught him knowledge,
  • and made the way of understanding known to him?
  • 15 The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and they are counted like dust of the balances!
    • Look! He weighs the islands like a thin covering.
  • 16 is not enough to light a fire, and its animals[fn] not enough for a burnt offering.
  • 17 are like nothing before him; they are counted by him as[fn] nothing and emptiness.
  • 18  And to what likeness will you compare him?
  • 19  and a[fn] overlays it with gold,
    • and he smelts chains of silver.
  • 20 too impoverished for a gift chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image that will not be knocked over.
  • 21  Have you not heard?
• Has it not been told to you from the[fn]
  • Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth?
  • 22 He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
• the one who stretches out the heavens like a veil
  • and spreads them out like a tent to live in,
  • 23 [fn] princes to nothing; he makes rulers of the earth like nothing.
  • 24 are they sown; indeed, hardly has their shoot taken root in the earth
• when[fn] he blows on them and they wither,
  • and the tempest carries them like stubble.

25 “And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?” says the holy one.

• 26 on high, and see! Who created these? The one who brings out their host by number.
• He calls all them by name.
  • Because he is great of power
    • and mighty of power, no man is missing.
  • 27 [fn] do you say, Jacob, and you speak, Israel,
• “My way is hidden from Yahweh,
  • and my judgment is passed over by my God?”
  • 28  or have you not heard?
• Yahweh is the God of eternity,
  • the creator of the ends of the earth!
• He is not faint, and he does not grow weary!
  • There is no searching his understanding.

29 He gives power to the weary,and he increases power for the powerless.[fn]

30 Even[fn] young people will be faint and grow weary, and the young will stumble, exhausted.

31 But[fn] those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength.They shall go up with wings[fn] like eagles;

they shall run and not grow weary;

they shall walk and not be faint.