Prepare the Way for the LORD

1“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.

2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

3A voice of one calling:
“Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; ¹³⁸make a straight highway for our God in the desert. ¹³⁹

4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain. ¹⁴⁰

5And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it.” ¹⁴¹For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

The Enduring Word

6A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.

7The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them;
indeed, the people are grass.

8The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” ¹⁴²

Here Is Your God!

9Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, ¹⁴³do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

10Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.

11He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

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

13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, ¹⁴⁴or informed Him as His counselor? ¹⁴⁵

14Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?

15Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales;
He lifts up the islands ¹⁴⁶like fine dust.

16Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for an ascension offering.

17All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

18To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

19To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold
and fits with silver chains?

20One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?

22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers 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 and makes the rulers ¹⁴⁷of the earth meaningless.

24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

25“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

26Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

27Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?

28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

29He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.

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

31But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.