Isaiah 40:9-20

English Standard Version

The Greatness of God

⁹Go on up to a high mountain,
    O Zion, ^(A)herald of good news;^[a]
lift up your voice with strength,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good news;^[b]
    lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
    “Behold your God!”
¹⁰^(B)Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him;
^(C)behold, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.
¹¹^(D)He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
    ^(E)he will gather the lambs in his arms;
^(F)he will carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead those that are with young.

¹²^(G)Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
    and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
    and weighed the mountains in scales
    and the hills in a balance?
¹³^(H)Who has measured^[c] the Spirit of the Lord,
    or what man shows him his counsel?
¹⁴Whom did he consult,
    and who made him understand?
^(I)Who taught him the path of justice,
    and taught him knowledge,
    and showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and are accounted ^(J)as the dust on the scales;
    behold, he takes up ^(K)the coastlands like fine dust.
¹⁶Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
    nor are ^(L)its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
¹⁷^(M)All the nations are as nothing before him,
    they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸^(N)To whom then will you liken God,
    ^(O)or what likeness compare with him?
¹⁹^(P)An idol! A craftsman casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and casts for it silver chains.
²⁰^(Q)He who is too impoverished for an offering
    chooses wood^[d] that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
    to set up an idol that will not move.