Isaias

XL. 1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

2 Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is filled, that her guilt is satisfied; for she hath received of the ’s hand double fOr all her sins.

3 A voice of one crying: In the wilderness clear ye the way of the LORD, make level in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every ’valley shall ’ exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the rugged shall become a level, and the rough places a plain:

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see: forthe mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

6 A voice of one saying, Cry! land he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodness thereof like a flower of the field.

7 The grass is withered, the flower faded: because the breath of the LORD hath blown upon it; surely the people is grass.

8 The grass is withered, the flower faded; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

9 Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion; lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, be not afraid! say unto the cities of Judah, Behdld your God

10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a strong one, his arm ruling for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry (them) in his bosom: he shall tend those that give suck.

12 Who hath measured the waters with the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in scales?

13 Who hath meted out the Spirit of the Lord, and, as the man of his counsel, made him to know;

14 With whom took he counsel, and he caused him to discern, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him know- ledge, and made him to know the way of discernment?

15 Behold, nations (are) as a drop from a bucket, and are counted as a grain on the scales: behold, he will lift up the isles as fine dust.

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, nor its beasts sufficient for (a burnt) sacrifice.

17 All the nations are as nothing before him, and are counted to him as of nought, and waste. ’

18 And to whom will ye liken God? and what likeness will ye compare unto him?

19 The graven image, a craftsman melteth it, and the smelter] ’covereth it with gold, and smelteth silver chains.

20 He that is impoverished as to an offering chooseth a tree that will not rot: he seeketh unto him a cunning craftsman, to set up a graven image, that will not totter.