Isaiah 40

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is complete, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.” A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill brought low;
the uneven ground will become level, and the rugged places a plain. The glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!”
And he says, “What shall I cry out?”
All flesh is grass, and all its faithfulness is like a flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it.
Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Go up on a high mountain, Zion, bearer of good news.
Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bearer of good news.
Lift it up;
do not fear.
Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” Look, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him.
Look, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he will tend his flock;
with his arm he will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom.
He will gently lead the nursing ewes. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, measured the heavens with his outstretched hand, gathered the dust of the earth in a third of a measure, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did he consult to give him understanding, teach him the path of justice, teach him knowledge, and make known to him the way of discernment? Look, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as fine dust on the scales.
Look, he lifts the islands like a speck of dust. Lebanon is not enough for the fire, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are regarded by him as less than nothing and emptiness. To whom then will you compare God?
What likeness will you place beside him? A craftsman casts an idol, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it. The one too poor for such an offering chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not totter. Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? He sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a thin curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in. He brings rulers to nothing and makes the judges of the earth emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown, scarcely has their trunk taken root in the ground, when he blows upon them and they wither, and the tempest carries them away like stubble. “To whom will you compare me, that I should be his equal?”
says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these?
He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name.
Because of his great might and mighty strength, not one is missing. Why do you say, Jacob, and declare, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not grow faint or weary;
his understanding is unsearchable. He gives strength to the faint, and to those without power he increases might. Even youths grow faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength;
they will rise on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not grow faint.

Rights and attribution