“1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is
accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of
the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.”
“3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see
[it] together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it]. 6 The voice
said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all
the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field: 7 The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth
upon it: surely the people [is] grass. 8 The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
“9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high
mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice
with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of
Judah, Behold your God! 10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong
[hand], and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward [is] with
him, and his work 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, [and] shall gently lead those that are with young.”
“12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted
out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a
measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a
balance? 13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or [being] his
counsellor hath taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and [who]
instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him
knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the
nations [are] as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust
of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon [is] not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof
sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before him [are] as
nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.”
“18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare
unto him? 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith
spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 20 He that [is]
so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree [that] will not
rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image,
[that] shall not be moved. 21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath
it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? 22 [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of
the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that
stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a
tent to dwell in: 23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the
judges of the earth as vanity. 24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea,
they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the
earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the
whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. 25 To whom then will ye liken
me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on
high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out
their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of
his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth.”
“27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid
from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28 Hast thou
not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?
[there is] no searching of his understanding. 29 He giveth power to the
faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength. 30 Even
the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall: 31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be
weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:1-31 AV)