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ULT ISA Chapter 40

◄ ISA 40 ► ║ ©

40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your God.

2 “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem;

and proclaim to her

that her term of service is fulfilled,

that her iniquity is pardoned,

that she has received from the hand of Yahweh

double for all her sins.”

3 A voice cries out in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of Yahweh;

make straight in the Arabah a highway for our God.

4 Every valley will be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill leveled;

and the rugged land will be as a plateau,

and the rough places a plain;

5 and the glory of Yahweh will be revealed,

and all flesh will see it together;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Call out.”

And I said, “What should I call out?”

“All flesh is grass,

and all their covenant faithfulness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower wilts

for the breath of Yahweh blows on it;

surely mankind is grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower wilts,

but the word of our God will stand forever.”

9 Go up yourself on a high mountain,

herald of Zion.

Lift high your voice mightily, herald of Jerusalem

raise it, do not fear.

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Behold: your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh comes powerfully,

and his arm rules for him.

Behold, his reward is with him,

and his wages are before his face.

11 Like a shepherd he will tend his flock,

in his arm he will gather the lambs,

and in his bosom carry them;

the nursing ewes he will lead.

12 Who has measured the waters in his palm,

and has gauged the sky with a handspan,

and comprehended the measure of the dust of the earth,

and weighed the mountains in scales,

or the hills in a balance?

13 Who has comprehended the spirit of Yahweh,

or has a man instructed him as his counselor?

14 With whom did he counsel? And informed him?

And taught him the way of justice?

and taught him knowledge,

or the path of understanding informed him?

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

and are regarded like the dust on the scales;

behold, he weighs the isles as a speck.

16 And Lebanon is not enough to kindle,

and its wild animals not enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as naught before him;

as nothing and void they are regarded by him.

18 And to whom will you liken God?

And what likeness will you compare to him?

19 An idol? A craftsman casts it,

and the goldsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains.

20 He who sets up a contribution

chooses wood that does not rot,

he seeks a skillful artisan for himself

to erect an idol that will not fall over.

21 Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 He is sitting above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a curtain

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He brings princes to nothingness;

he makes the rulers of the earth as naught.

24 Indeed, they are hardly planted, yes, hardly sown.

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

but he also blows upon them and they wither,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

25 “And to whom will you compare me,

that I be equal with?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see!

Who has created these?

He musters their host by number,

calls all of them by name,

By the greatness of might and the strength of power,

not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, Jacob,

and speak, Israel,

“My way is hidden from Yahweh,

and my God passes over my judgment”?

28 Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, Yahweh,

the Creator of the ends of the earth,

does not grow tired and does not become weary;

there is no limit to his understanding.

29 He gives energy to the weary;

and to the frail of strength, increased might.

30 Even youths become tired and weary,

and young lads stumble clumsily:

31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength;

they will ascend with wings like eagles;

they will run and not be weary;

they will walk and not faint.