1 »Comfort, comfort my people,« says your God.

2 »Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed. Her sin has been paid for and she has received double for all her sins from Jehovah’s hand.«

3 A voice of one calling: »In the wilderness prepare the way for Jehovah. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 »Every valley will be raised up! Every mountain and hill made low. The rough ground will become level and the rugged places a plain.

5 »The glory of Jehovah will be revealed and together all mankind will see it. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken!«

6 A voice shouts: »Cry out!« And I said: »What shall I cry?« The voice shouts: »All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

7 »The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of Jehovah blows on them. Surely the people are grass.

8 »The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.«

9 You bring good news to Zion. Go up on a high mountain. You bring good news to Jerusalem. Lift up your voice with a shout! Lift it up and do not be afraid! Say to the towns of Judah: »Here is your God!«

10 See the Sovereign Lord Jehovah comes with power. His arm power rules for him. See, his reward is with him and his recompense accompanies him.

11 He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the span of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance of the scale?

13 Who has understood the mind of Jehovah, or has instructed him, as his counselor?

14 Whom did Jehovah consult to enlighten him? Who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?

15 Truly the nations are like a drop in a bucket! They are regarded as dust on the scales! He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

16 Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

17 Before him all the nations are as nothing! He regards them as worthless and less than nothing.

18 To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?

19 As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.

20 A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He brings princes to nothing and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

25 »To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?« says the Holy One.

26 »Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? The being that brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name created all these! Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

27 »‘Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel: ‘My way is hidden from Jehovah! My God disregards my cause?’

28 »Do you not know? Have you not heard? JEHOVAH IS THE EVERLASTING GOD, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and no one can measure find out his understanding.

29 »He gives strength to those who grow tired and increases the strength of those who are weak.

30 Even young people grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

31 »Those who hope in Jehovah will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary! They will walk and not be faint.«