Open English Translation ISA Chapter 40

40 “Encourage my people,” says your god. “Encourage them.

2 Speak to Yerushalem’s (Jerusalem) heart and tell her that her period of service is ended,

because the punishment for her disobedience has been accepted.

She’s received double punishment from Yahweh for all her sins.

3 A voice calls out in the wilderness[fn] to clear the path for Yahweh.

Make a straight road in the Aravah plain for our god.[ref]

4 Every valley will be filled in and every mountain and hill will be flattened,

≈ and so the slopes will be levelled and the rough places smoothed out,

5 then Yahweh’s splendour will be revealed and all people will see it simultaneously,

because that’s what Yahweh has declared.

6 A voice says, ‘Call out!’ and I ask, ‘What should I call out?’

Say that all people are like grass—

all their ‘loyal commitment’ is as temporary as a flower in the countryside.[ref]

7 The grass dries up and the flower wilts

when Yahweh’s breath blows over it.

Surely humankind is like grass.

8 The grass dries up, the flower wilts,

but the decree from our god will stand forever.

9 Go up onto a high hill you bearer of news for Tsiyon (Zion).

≈ Raise your voice you bringer of news to Yerushalem (Jerusalem)—shout loudly and don’t be afraid.

Tell Yehudah’s (Judah) cities that their god is here.

10 Look, my master Yahweh will be coming with strength,

≈ and he will be ruling with power.

Look, he’s bringing his reward

≈ and his wages are there in front of him.[ref]

11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd does.[ref]

≈ He will hold the lambs to his chest.

He will lead along the ewes who’ve just had lambs.

12 Who has measured the oceans in their palm,

≈ and has marked off the sky with their handspan?

Who can count the dust grains on the earth,

≈ and has weighed the mountains with scales and the hills with balances?

13 Who has told Yahweh’s spirit what to do,

≈ and has any person given him good advice?[ref]

14 Who did he ask for advice?

≈ Who informed him about something?

Who taught him how to judge fairly,

≈ and taught him knowledge and helped him to understand something?

15 Listen, the nations are like a drop in a bucket,

and are as insignificant as dust on the scales.

He lifts the islands as if they just specks.

16 It’s not enough to set fire to Levanon,

and it doesn’t have enough animals to be an adequate burnt offering.

17 All the nations together are still nothing to him.

He considers their combined power as useless and worthless.

18 Who could you compare God with?

What is there that you all could say is anything like him?[ref]

19 An idol that was cast by a craftsman,

overlaid with gold by a goldsmith,

and then decorated with silver chains?

20 The poorer person chooses a contribution of wood that won’t rot.

They choose a skillful craftsman to make an idol that won’t topple over.

21 Don’t you all know? Haven’t you heard?

Didn’t anyone tell you all from the beginning?

Don’t you all understand the earth’s foundations?

22 He’s the one who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

He’s the one who stretches the skies out like a curtain

≈ and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He decides which officials will come to nothing.

≈ He makes the world’s judges irrelevant.

24 Indeed, they’re hardly planted, yes, hardly sown.

Indeed, their stem has barely taken root in the earth,

but he also blows on them and they wither,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

25 “Who else is like me?” asks the holy one.

≈ “Who else could be equal to me?”

26 Look up and see the stars.

Who created them?

Yahweh knows their number as he brings them out.

≈ He calls them all by name.

Because of his great strength and mighty power

not a single one is missing.

27 Why do you talk, Ya’akov (Jacob)?

≈ And why do you speak, Yisrael (Israel)?

Saying, ‘My path is hidden from Yahweh,

and my rights disappear.’

28 Don’t you know?

≈ Haven’t you heard?

The eternal God Yahweh is the creator of one end of the earth to the other.

He doesn’t get tired

≈ and he won’t become weary.

You won’t find a limit to his understanding.

29 He gives energy to those who are weary,

≈ and increases the strength of those who are weak.

30 Even young people get tired and weary,

≈ and young men can stumble clumsily,

31 but those who trust Yahweh will renew their strength.

They will rise up with wings like eagles.

They will run and not get tired.

≈ They will walk and not become weary.