God’s People Comforted

1“Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your God.

2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and announce to her

that her time of hard service is over,

her iniquity has been pardoned,

and she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.”

3A voice of one crying out:

Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;

make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

4Every valley will be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill will be leveled;

the uneven ground will become smooth

and the rough places, a plain.

5And the glory of the Lord will appear,

and all humanity together will see it,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

6A voice was saying, “Cry out!”

Another said, “What should I cry out?”

“All humanity is grass,

and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.

7The grass withers, the flowers fade

when the breath of the Lord blows on them;

indeed, the people are grass.

8The grass withers, the flowers fade,

but the word of our God remains forever.”

9Zion, herald of good news,

go up on a high mountain.

Jerusalem, herald of good news,

raise your voice loudly.

Raise it, do not be afraid!

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

10See, the Lord God comes with strength,

and his power establishes his rule.

His wages are with him,

and his reward accompanies him.

11He protects his flock like a shepherd;

he gathers the lambs in his arms

and carries them in the fold of his garment.

He gently leads those that are nursing.

12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?

Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure

or weighed the mountains on a balance

and the hills on the scales?

13Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

or who gave him counsel?

14Who did he consult?

Who gave him understanding

and taught him the paths of justice?

Who taught him knowledge

and showed him the way of understanding?

15Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;

he lifts up the islands like fine dust.

16Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel,

or its animals enough for a burnt offering.

17All the nations are as nothing before him;

they are considered by him

as empty nothingness.

18With whom will you compare God?

What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?

19An idol? — something that a smelter casts

and a metalworker plates with gold

and makes silver chains for?

20A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal

that will not rot.

He looks for a skilled craftsman

to set up an idol that will not fall over.

21Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you

from the beginning?

Have you not considered

the foundations of the earth?

22God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23He reduces princes to nothing

and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland.

24They are barely planted, barely sown,

their stem hardly takes root in the ground

when he blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

25“To whom will you compare me,

or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

26Look up and see!

Who created these?

He brings out the stars by number;

he calls all of them by name.

Because of his great power and strength,

not one of them is missing.

27Jacob, why do you say,

and Israel, why do you assert,

“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 whole earth.

He never becomes faint or weary;

there is no limit to his understanding.

29He gives strength to the faint

and strengthens the powerless.

30Youths may become faint and weary,

and young men stumble and fall,

31but those who trust in the Lord

will renew their strength;

they will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not become weary,

they will walk and not faint.