Isaiah (Douay: Isaias) 40

¹ “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

² “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”

³ The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

⁵ The LORD’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.”

⁶ The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, because the LORD’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”

⁹ You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

¹³ Who has directed the LORD’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?

¹⁴ Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷ All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

¹⁹ A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.

²¹ Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,

²³ who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

²⁴ They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

²⁵ “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

²⁷ Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸ Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹ He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

³⁰ Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

³¹ but those who wait for 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.

¹ BBe comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.

² Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.

³ The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.

⁵ And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

⁶ The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.

⁷ The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:

⁸ The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.

⁹ Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God:

¹⁰ Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.

¹¹ He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.

¹² Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

¹³ Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him?

¹⁴ With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.

¹⁶ And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷ All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.

¹⁸ To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him?

¹⁹ Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?

²⁰ He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.

²¹ Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the earth?

²² It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.

²³ He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.

²⁴ And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

²⁵ And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith the Holy One?

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.

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 Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.

²⁹ It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not.

³⁰ Youths shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by infirmity.

³¹ But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.