Isaiah 40

International Standard Version

40 “Comfort! Yes, comfort my people,”
    says your God.
² “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her heavy service has been completed,
    that her penalty has been paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.”

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out!”
    So I^[b] asked, “What am I to cry out?”

⁹ “Climb up a high mountain,
    you messenger of good news to Zion!
Lift up your voice with strength,
    you messenger to Jerusalem!
Lift it up!
    Don’t be afraid!
Say to the towns of Judah,
    ‘Here is your God!’
¹⁰ Look! The Lord God comes with strength,
    and his arm^[f] rules for him.
Look! His reward is with him,
    and his payment accompanies him.
¹¹ Like a shepherd, he tends his flock.
    He gathers the lambs in his arms,
carries them close to his heart,
    and gently leads the mother sheep.”

¹² “Who has measured the waters of the sea^[g]
    in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens
    by the width of his hand?^[h]
Who has enclosed the dust of the earth
    in a measuring bowl,
or weighed the mountains
    in scales
        and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who has fathomed the Spirit of the Lord,
    or as his counselor has taught him?^[i]
14 With whom did he consult
    to enlighten and instruct him on the path of justice?
Or who taught him knowledge
    and showed him the way of wisdom?

²¹ “You know, don’t you?
    You have heard, haven’t you?
Hasn’t it been told you from the beginning?
    Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the^[u] earth?
²² He’s the one who sits above the disk of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He’s the one who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to live in,
²³ who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes void the rulers of the earth.
²⁴ No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
        no sooner have^[v] their stems taken root in the earth,
than^[w] he blows on them, and they wither,
    and the tempest sweeps them away like stubble.

²⁷ “Jacob, why do you say—
    and Israel, why do you complain—
‘My predicament is hidden from the Lord,
    and my cause is ignored by my God.’?
²⁸ Don’t you know?
    Haven’t you heard?
The Lord is the eternal God,
        the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not grow tired or weary;
    and^[ab] his understanding cannot be fathomed.
²⁹ He’s the^[ac] one who gives might to the faint,
    renewing strength for the powerless.
³⁰ Even boys grow tired and weary,
    and young men collapse and fall,
³¹ but those who keep waiting for the Lord will renew their strength.
    Then^[ad] they’ll soar on wings like eagles;
they’ll run and not grow weary;
    they’ll walk and not grow tired.”