 1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak lovingly to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is done, that her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. 3 The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight a highway in the desert for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked places shall be made level, and the rough places smooth; 5 and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the beauty of it is as the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the Spirit of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people is grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades. But the Word of our God shall stand forever. 9 Go up for yourself on the high mountain, bringer of good tidings to Zion. Lift up your voice with strength, O you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem. Lift up, do not be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. 10 Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. 11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom and gently lead those with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured out the heavens with a span? And who has shut up the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, and what man taught Him counsel? 14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and made known the way of understanding to Him? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the scales. Behold, He takes up the coastlands as a very little thing. 16 Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor the beasts of it enough for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before Him are as nothing. And to Him they are thought to be less than nothing, and vanity. 18 To whom then will you compare God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? 19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. 20 He too poor for that offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He looks for a skillful workman to prepare a graven image that will not totter. 21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits on the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings the rulers to nothing. He makes the judges of the earth like vanity. 24 Yes, they shall not be planted. Yes, they shall not be sown. Yes, their stump shall not take root in the earth. He will blow on them and they will wither, and the tempest will take them away like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, or am I equaled? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who has created these, who brings out their host by number? He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power. Not one is lacking. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my judgment has passed over from my God? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow weak nor weary? There is no searching of His understanding. 29 He gives power to the weary. To those with no vigor. He increases strength. 30 Even the young will faint and be weary and the young men will utterly fall. 31 Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.
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