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          DASV: Isaiah 40    

1 Comfort, comfort my people,
     says your God.
2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
     announce to her
           that her warfare is over,
           that her iniquity is pardoned,
           that she has received from the LORD's hand
                double for all her sins.
3 The voice of one crying out,
     "Prepare in the wilderness the way of the LORD;
     make level in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
     and every mountain and hill will be made low;
     the uneven ground will be leveled,
     and the rough places made smooth.
5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
     and all flesh will see it together;
           the mouth of the LORD has spoken it."

6 A voice said, "Cry out."
     So I asked, "What should I cry out?"
           "All people are like grass,
      and all their beauty fades like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers,
     the flower fades,
     because the breath of the LORD blows on it;
     surely people are like grass.
8 The grass withers,
     the flower fades,
     but the word of our God will stand forever."
9 Get up on a high mountain, O Zion,
     messenger of good tidings.
     You who announce good tidings to Jerusalem,
          lift up your voice with strength;
                do not be afraid.
      Announce to the towns of Judah,
          "Here is your God!"
10 Look, the sovereign LORD will come with might,
     he will rule with his strong arm;
      his reward is with him,
     and his prize goes before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
     he will gather the lambs in his arms,
      and carry them in his bosom,
     he will gently lead those sheep with young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
     and measured out heaven with the span of his hand,
      and measured out the dust of the earth by the basketful,
     and weighed the mountains in scales,
           and the hills on a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
     or instructed him as his mentor?
14 With whom did he consult to enlighten him?
     Who taught him the path of justice?
     Who taught him knowledge,
           or showed to him the way of understanding?
15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket,
     and are regarded like dust on the scales;
      he picks up the islands like fine dust.
16 Lebanon is not enough to burn for sacrificial fire,
     nor are its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
     they are accounted by him as less than nothing and worthless.

18 To whom then will you compare God?
     What image will you equate him to?
19 An idol? A workman casts it in a mold,
     and the goldsmith overlays it with gold,
           and fashions silver chains for it.
20 Or if someone is too poor for such a sacrifice
     they may choose wood that will not rot and
           then find a skilful craftsman to set up a carved idol
     that will not topple.

21 Do you not know?
     Have you not heard?
      Have you not been told from the beginning?
     Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 He sits above the circle of the earth;
          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 reduces rulers to nothing,
     and makes the judges of the earth worthless.
24 Scarcely are they planted,
     scarcely are they sown,
           scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
     when he blows on them,
     and they wither,
           and the whirlwind blows them away like stubble.

25 "To whom then will you compare me,
     or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see.
          Who has created these?
     He brings them out in ranks by number;
          he calls each one of them by name.
     Because of the greatness of his might,
          and because of his strong power,
           not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
     and claim, O Israel,
     "My way is hid from the LORD,
     and the justice due me is ignored by my God?"
28 Have you not known?
     Have you not heard?
      The everlasting God, the LORD,
     the Creator of the ends of the earth,
      He does not faint or get tired;
          his understanding is unfathomable.
29 He gives strength to the weary;
     to the weak he increases strength.
30 Even youths will faint and grow weary,
     and vigorous young men fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength;
     they will mount up with wings like eagles;
     they will run, and not grow weary;
     they will walk, and not faint.

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