Read Isaiah 40

Isaiah40

Prepare the Way for the LORD

¹“Comfort, comfort My people,”says your God.²“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,and proclaim to herthat her forced labor has been completed;her iniquity has been pardoned.For she has received from the hand of the LORDdouble for all her sins.”

³A voice of one calling:
“Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness;make a straight highway for our God in the desert.⁴Every valley shall be lifted up,and every mountain and hill made low;the uneven ground will become smooth,and the rugged land a plain.⁵And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,and all humanity together will see it.”For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

The Enduring Word

⁶A voice says, “Cry out!”And I asked, “What should I cry out?”“All flesh is like grass,and all its glory like the flowers of the field.⁷The grass withers and the flowers fallwhen the breath of the LORD blows on them;indeed, the people are grass.⁸The grass withers and the flowers fall,but the word of our God stands forever.”

Here Is Your God!

⁹Go up on a high mountain,O Zion, herald of good news.Raise your voice loudly,O Jerusalem, herald of good news.Lift it up,do not be afraid!Say to the cities of Judah,“Here is your God!”¹⁰Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,and His arm establishes His rule.His reward is with Him,and His recompense accompanies Him.¹¹He tends His flock like a shepherd;He gathers the lambs in His armsand carries them close to His heart.He gently leads the nursing ewes.

¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,or weighed the mountains on a scaleand the hills with a balance?¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,or informed Him as His counselor?¹⁴Whom did He consult to enlighten Him,and who taught Him the paths of justice?Who imparted knowledge to Himand showed Him the way of understanding?

¹⁵Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;they are considered a speck of dust on the scales;He lifts up the islands like fine dust.¹⁶Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel,nor its animals enough for an ascension offering.¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before Him;He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

¹⁸To whom will you liken God?To what image will you compare Him?¹⁹To an idol that a craftsman castsand a metalworker overlays with goldand fits with silver chains?²⁰One lacking such an offeringchooses wood that will not rot.He seeks a skilled craftsmanto set up an idol that will not topple.

²¹Do you not know?Have you not heard?Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?²²He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth;its dwellers are like grasshoppers.He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.²³He brings the princes to nothingand makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.²⁴No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown,no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground,than He blows on them and they wither,and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

²⁵“To whom will you liken Me,or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.²⁶Lift up your eyes on high:Who created all these?He leads forth the starry host by number;He calls each one by name.Because of His great power and mighty strength,not one of them is missing.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,and why do you assert, O Israel,“My way is hidden from the LORD,and my claim is ignored by my God”?²⁸Do you not know?Have you not heard?The LORD is the everlasting God,the Creator of the ends of the earth.He will not grow tired or weary;His understanding is beyond searching out.²⁹He gives power to the faintand increases the strength of the weak.³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary,and young men stumble and fall.³¹But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength;they will mount up with wings like eagles;they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not faint.