Isaiah 40

New King James Version

^3 (C)The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
^(D)“Prepare the way of theLord;
^(E)Make straight^[b]in the desert
A highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
^(F)The crooked places shall be made^[c]straight
And the rough places smooth;
⁵ The^(G)glory of theLordshall be revealed,
And all flesh shall seeittogether;
For the mouth of theLordhas spoken.”

⁶ The voice said, “Cry out!”
And^[d]he said, “What shall I cry?”

^(H)“All fleshisgrass,
And all its lovelinessislike the flower of the field.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of theLordblows upon it;
Surely the peoplearegrass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades,
But^(I)the word of our God stands forever.”

⁹ O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Liftitup, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

¹⁰ Behold, the LordGodshall come^[e]with a stronghand,
And^(J)His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold,^(K)His rewardiswith Him,
And His^[f]work before Him.
¹¹ He will^(L)feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carrythemin His bosom,
Andgently lead those who are with young.

^12 (M)Who has measured the^[g]waters in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a^[h]span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
^13 (N)Who has directed the Spirit of theLord,
OrasHis counselor has taught Him?
¹⁴ With whom did He take counsel, andwhoinstructed Him,
And^(O)taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold, the nationsareas a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
¹⁶ And Lebanonisnot sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All nations before Himareas^(P)nothing,
And^(Q)they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

¹⁸ To whom then will you^(R)liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
^19 (S)The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
²⁰ Whoeveristoo impoverished forsuch^[i]a contribution
Chooses a treethatwill not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
^(T)To prepare a carved imagethatwill not totter.

^21 (U)Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It isHe who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitantsarelike grasshoppers,
Who^(V)stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a^(W)tent to dwell in.
²³ He^[j]brings the^(X)princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

²⁴ Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

²⁵ “To^(Y)whom then will you liken Me,
Orto whomshall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created thesethings,
Who brings out their host by number;
^(Z)He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength ofHispower;
Not one is missing.

^27 (AA)Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from theLord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
²⁸ Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, theLord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
^(AB)His understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak,
And tothose who haveno might He increases strength.
³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who^(AC)wait on theLord
^(AD)Shall renewtheirstrength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.