1“Comfort, comfort My people”, says your God. 2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her, that her days of warfare and sadness are over, that her sin has been atoned for; that she has received from the LORD double for all her sins. 3Listen! The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill shall be leveled; the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places made smooth; 5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the LORD has spoken it.” 6A voice said, “Shout!” And I said, “What shall I shout?” All people are like grass, and their faithfulness fades like the beauty of a flower of the field: 7The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon them; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God shall stand forever. 9O Zion, messenger of good news, get you up into the high mountain! O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, raise your voice with strength; fearlessly shout to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10Behold, the LORD God comes in power, and He shall rule with His mighty arm; and, behold, His reward is with Him, and His restitution is also with Him. 11He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and measured the breadth of heaven, and weighed the dust of the earth, or the mountains in scales, or the hills in a balance? 13Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or has been His counselor and taught Him? 14With whom did He take counsel, and who has instructed and shown Him the path of justice, and taught Him knowledge, and shown the way of understanding to Him? 15Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; He weighs the islands as a very little thing. 16And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn on an altar, nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 17All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. 18With whom, then, will you compare God? Or what image will you compare Him to? 19The workman makes idols, melting and casting an image, then the goldsmith plates it with gold, and casts silver chains. 20He that is too poor for such idols chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks a skillful workman to carve him an image, that will not fall down. 21Have you not known? Have you not heard? Have you not been told from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22It is He Who sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in: 23He brings the princes to nothing; He renders rulers of the earth insignificant. 24Yes, they are like plants in the earth; their stock shall not take permanent root in the earth; and He shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away like stubble. 25“To whom, then, will you liken Me, or shall I be compared with?” says the Holy One. 26Lift up your eyes, and behold Who has created these things, Who brings out their starry host by number; He calling them all by their names. By the greatness of His might, for He is mighty in power, not one is missing. 27Why do you say, O Jacob, and O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my cause is disregarded by my God?” 28Do you not know? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not tire, nor grow weary? There is no discovering His understanding. 29He gives strength to the weary; and He increases the strength of those who need it. 30Even the youths grow tired and weary, and the young men stumble and fall: 31But they who trust in the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall soar on wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.