Comfort for God’s People
1 "Comfort; comfort my people," says your God.
2
"Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for, that she has {received}
from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins."
3
A voice [is] calling in the wilderness, "Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God!
4
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall become low, And the rough ground shall be like a plain, and the rugged ground like a valley-plain.
5
And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all {humankind} together shall see [it], for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."
6
A voice [is] saying, "Call!" And he said, "What shall I call?" All {humankind} [are] grass, and all his loyalty [is] like the flowers of the field.
7
Grass withers; [the] flower withers when the breath of Yahweh blows on it. Surely the people [are] grass.
8
Grass withers; [the] flower withers, but the word of our God will stand forever.
9
{Get yourself} up to a high mountain, Zion, bringer of good news! Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bringer of good news! Lift [it] up; you must not fear! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here [is] your God!"
10
Look! The Lord Yahweh comes with {strength}, and his arm rules for him. Look! His reward [is] with him, and his recompense {in his presence}.
11
He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather [the] lambs in his arm, and he will carry [them] in his bosom; he will lead those who nurse.
12
Who has measured [the] waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off [the] heavens with [a] span, comprehended the dust of the earth in [a] third of a measure and weighed out [the] mountains in the scales, and [the] hills in a balance?
13
Who has measured up the spirit of Yahweh or informed him [as] {his counselor}?
14
With whom has he consulted, that he enlightened him and taught him [the] path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and made [the] way of understanding known to him?
15
Look! [The] nations [are] like a drop from a bucket, and they are counted like dust of [the] balances! Look! He weighs [the] islands like a thin covering.
16
And Lebanon [is] not enough to light a fire, and its animals not enough for a burnt offering.
17
All the nations [are] like nothing before him; they are counted by him as nothing and emptiness.
18
And to whom will you liken God? And to what likeness will you compare him?
19
A craftsman pours out the idol, and a {goldsmith} overlays it with gold, and [he] smelts chains of silver.
20
The one who is [too] impoverished [for] a gift chooses wood [that] will not rot; he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image [that] will not be knocked over.
21
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from [the] {beginning}? Have you not understood [from] the foundation of the earth?
22
[He is] the one who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants [are] like grasshoppers; the one who stretches out [the] heavens like a veil and spreads them out like [a] tent to live [in],
23
the one who brings princes to nothing; he makes rulers of [the] earth like nothing.
24
Indeed, hardly are they planted; indeed, hardly [are they] sown; indeed, hardly has their shoot taken root in the earth when he blows on them and they wither, and [the] tempest carries them like stubble.
25
"And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?" says [the] holy one.
26
Lift your eyes up [on] high, and see! Who created these? The one who brings out their host by number. He calls all them by name. Because [he is] great of power and mighty of power, no man is missing.