Isaiah 40

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;^(E)
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.^(F)
4 Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.^(G)
5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,^(H)
and all humanity^[b] together will see it,^(I)
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.^(J)

⁶ A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
Another^[c] said, “What should I cry out?”
“All humanity is grass,^(K)
and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.^(L)
7 The grass withers, the flowers fade
when the breath^[d] of the Lord blows on them;^[e]
indeed, the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flowers fade,^(M)
but the word of our God remains forever.”^(N)

⁹ Zion, herald of good news,
go up on a high mountain.^(O)
Jerusalem, herald of good news,^(P)
raise your voice loudly.
Raise it, do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”^(Q)
10 See, the Lord God comes with strength,
and His power establishes His rule.^(R)
His reward is with Him,^(S)
and His gifts accompany Him.
¹¹ He protects His flock like a shepherd;^(T)
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them in the fold of His garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?^(U)
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains in a balance
and the hills in the scales?
¹³ Who has directed^[f] the Spirit of the Lord,
or who gave Him His counsel?^(V)
14 Who did He consult with?
Who gave Him understanding^(W)
and taught Him the paths of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge
and showed Him the way of understanding?
¹⁵ Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales;
He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon is not enough for fuel,
or its animals enough for a burnt offering.^(X)
17 All the nations are as nothing before Him;
they are considered by Him
as nothingness and emptiness.^(Y)

¹⁸ Who will you compare God with?
What likeness will you compare Him to?^(Z)
19 To an idol?—something that a smelter casts,
and a metalworker plates with gold
and makes silver welds for it?^(AA)
20 To one who shapes a pedestal,
choosing wood that does not rot?^[g]
He looks for a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not fall over.^(AB)

²¹ Do you not know?^(AC)
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not considered
the foundations of the earth?^(AD)
22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.^(AE)
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth^(AF)
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.^(AG)
23 He reduces princes to nothing^(AH)
and makes judges of the earth irrational.
²⁴ They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.^(AI)

²⁵ “Who will you compare Me to,^(AJ)
or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
²⁶ Look up^[h] and see:
who created^(AK) these?
He brings out the starry host by number;
He calls all of them by name.^(AL)
Because of His great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Jacob, why do you say,
and Israel, why do you assert:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?^(AM)
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,^(AN)
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.^(AO)
29 He gives strength to the weary
and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰ Youths may faint and grow weary,
and young men stumble and fall,
³¹ but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;^(AP)
they will soar on wings like eagles;^(AQ)
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.