以賽亞書 第 40 章

Comfort, comfort my people, says God.

O priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is fulfilled, her sin is loosed, for she has received from the Lord's hand double for her sins.

A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God.

Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and all the crooked places shall become straight, and the rough place plains.

And the glory of the Lord shall be seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, for the Lord has spoken.

A voice of one saying, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of grass.

The grass has withered and the flower has fallen.

But the word of our God abides for ever.

Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem. Lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Iouda: Behold, your God!

Behold, the Lord comes with strength, and his arm with dominion. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

Like a shepherd he will tend his flock, and with his arm he will gather the lambs, and he will comfort those that are with young.

Who has measured the water with his hand, and heaven with a span, and all the earth with a fistful? Who set the mountains on a scale and the wooded valleys on a balance?

Who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?

Or with whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him? Or who showed him judgement? Or who showed him the way of understanding?

If all the nations are reckoned as a drop from a bucket and as the tipping of a balance, they shall also be reckoned as spittle.

And Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, and all the four-footed beasts are not sufficient for a whole burnt offering.

And all the nations are as nothing, and they were reckoned as nothing.

To whom have you likened the Lord? And with what likeness have you compared him?

Has a craftsman made an image, or a goldsmith, having melted gold, overlaid it with gold and fashioned it as a likeness?

For a craftsman chooses wood that does not rot, and wisely seeks how he shall set up his image, and that it may not be shaken.

Will you not know? Will you not hear? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?

It is he who holds the circle of the earth, and those dwelling in it are like locusts; who set up the heaven like a vault and stretched it out like a tent to dwell in.

who makes rulers to rule over nothing, and made the earth as nothing.

For they shall not sow, nor shall they plant, nor shall their root take root in the earth. He blew upon them and they withered, and a tempest shall carry them away like twigs.

"Now then, to whom have you likened me, and I shall be exalted?" said the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who has displayed all these things? He who brings out his ordered host by number; he will call them all by name. Because of his great glory and by the might of his strength, nothing has escaped you.

Do not say, Jacob, and what have you spoken, Israel: My way has been hidden from God, and my God has taken away my case and has withdrawn?

And now, have you not known? Have you not heard? God is everlasting, the God who built the ends of the earth. He will not hunger, nor will he grow weary, nor is there any searching out of his understanding.

He gives strength to those who hunger, and grief to those who are not in pain.

For the young will hunger, and youths will grow weary, and the chosen will be without strength.

But those who wait for God will exchange their strength; they will grow wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not hunger.