_Words of Comfort, and the God of Comfort._
1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2. Speak ye to
the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her affliction is
ended, that her debt is paid, that she has received from the hand of
Jehovah double for all her sins.
3. Hark, a crier! In the wilderness prepare ye a way for Jehovah,
make smooth in the desert a road for our God. 4. Let every valley be
exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; and let the rugged by
made a plain, and the ledges of rock a valley. 5. And the glory of
the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh seeth together; for the
mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.
6. Hark, one speaking, Cry! And he answers, What shall I cry? All
flesh is grass, and all its beauty as the flower of the field.
7. Grass is withered, flower faded, for the breath of Jehovah has
blown upon it. Surely grass is the people; 8. grass withereth, flower
fadeth: yet the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9. Upon a high mountain get thee up, O evangelistess Zion;[1] lift up
thy voice with strength, evangelistess Jerusalem! lift up, be not
afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.
10. Behold, the Lord Jehovah as a mighty one will He come! His arm
ruling for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His retribution
before Him. 11. He will feed His flock like a shepherd, take the
lambs in His arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those
that are giving suck.
12. Who hath measured the waters with the hollow of His hand, and
regulated the heavens with a span, and taken up the dust of the earth
in a third measure, and weighed the mountains with a steelyard, and
hills with balances? 13. Who regulated the Spirit of Jehovah, and
(who) instructed Him as His counsellor? 14. With whom took He
counsel, and who would have explained to Him and instructed Him
concerning the path of right, and taught Him knowledge, and made
known to Him a prudent course?
15. Behold, nations like a little drop on a bucket, and like a grain
of sand in a balance, are they esteemed; behold, islands like an atom
of dust that rises in the air. 16. And Lebanon is not a sufficiency
of burning, nor its game a sufficiency of burnt-offerings. 17. All
the nations are as nothing before Him; they are regarded by Him as
belonging to nullity and emptiness. 18. And to whom can ye liken God,
and what king of image can ye place beside Him!
19. The idol, when the smith has cast it, the melter plates it with
gold, and melteth silver chains for it. 20. The man who is
impoverished in oblations, he chooseth a block of wood that will not
rot; he seeketh for himself a skilful smith, to prepare an idol that
will not shake.
21. Do ye not know? Do ye not hear? Is it not proclaimed to you from
the beginning? Have ye not obtained an insight into the foundations
of the earth? 22. He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth,
and its inhabitants resemble grasshoppers; who has spread out the
heavens like gauze, and stretched them out like a tent-roof to dwell
in; 23. He who giveth up rulers; maketh judges of the earth like a
desolation. 24. They are hardly planted, hardly sown, their stem has
hardly taken root in the earth, and He only blows upon them, and they
dry up, and the storm carries them away like stubble.
25. And to whom will ye compare Me, to whom can I be equal? saith the
Holy One.
26. Lift[2] up your eyes on high and see; who hath created these
things? It is He who bringeth out their host by number, calleth them
all by names, because of the greatness of (His) might, and as being
strong in power: there is not one that is missing.
27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is
hidden from Jehovah, and my right hand is overlooked by my God?
28. Is it not known to thee, or hast thou not heard, an eternal God
is Jehovah, Creator of the ends of the earth? He fainteth not,
neither becomes weary; His understanding is unsearchable. 29. Giving
power to the faint, and to the incapable He giveth strength in
abundance. 30. And youths grow faint and weary, and young men suffer
a fall. 31. But they who wait for Jehovah gain fresh strength; lift
up their wings like eagles; run, and are not weary; go forward, and
do not faint.