Isaiah 40

English Standard Version

^3 (D)A voice cries:^[b]
(E)“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    ^(F)make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
^4 (G)Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
^5 (H)And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    ^(I)for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

^12 (R)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 (S)Who has measured^[g] the Spirit of the Lord,
    or what man shows him his counsel?
¹⁴ Whom did he consult,
    and who made him understand?
^(T)Who taught him the path of justice,
    and taught him knowledge,
    and showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and are accounted ^(U)as the dust on the scales;
    behold, he takes up ^(V)the coastlands like fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
    nor are ^(W)its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
^17 (X)All the nations are as nothing before him,
    they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

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

^21 (AC)Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are ^(AD)like grasshoppers;
^(AE)who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
^23 (AF)who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
    ^(AG)and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

^25 (AH)To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
^(AI)He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
^(AJ)“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    ^(AK)and my right is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is ^(AL)the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    ^(AM)his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but ^(AN)they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings ^(AO)like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.