1.  Comfort and give solace to my people,

says your God;

2.  speak kindly to Jerusalem.

Announce to her that she has served her term,

that her guilt has been expiated.

She has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.

3.  A voice calls out,

In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;

in the wilderness

pave a straight highway for our God:

4.  every ravine must be raised up,

every mountain and hill made low;

the uneven ground must become level

and rough terrain a plain.

5.  For the glory^a of the Lord shall be revealed

and all flesh see it at once.

By his mouth the Lord has spoken it.

6.  A voice said, Announce it.

And I asked, How shall I announce it?

All flesh is grass,

and at its best like a blossom of the field.

7.  ^bThough the Spirit of the Lord breathe within it,

the people themselves are but herbage—

8.  grass that withers, flowers that fade—

only the word of our God endures forever.

9.  Scale the mountain heights,

O Zion, herald of good tidings.

Raise your voice mightily,

O Jerusalem, messenger of good news.

Make yourself heard, be not afraid;

proclaim to the cities of Judah : Behold your God!

10.  See, my Lord the Lord comes with power;

his arm presides for him.

His reward is with him; his work precedes him.

11.  Like a shepherd he pastures his flock:

the lambs he gathers up with his arm

and carries in his bosom;

the ewes that give milk he leads gently along.

12.  Who measured out the waters

with the hollow of his hand

and gauged the heavens

by the span of his fingers?

Who compiled the earth’s dust by measure,

weighing mountains in scales,

hills in a balance?

13.   Who has comprehended the Spirit of the Lord,

that a man should let him know his plan?

14.  Of whom was he counseled

that he might be enlightened,

by whom instructed in the path of discretion,

imparting to him knowledge,

acquainting him with the way of understanding?

15.  The nations are but drops from a bucket,

counting no more than dust on a balance;

the isles he displaces as mere specks.

16.  Lebanon would not suffice to kindle a fire,

nor all its beasts be adequate for sacrifice.

17.  Before him all nations are as nothing;

as less than the ether they are reckoned by him.

18.  To whom then will you liken God?

What does he resemble in your estimation?

19.  A figure cast by the artisan,

overlaid by the smith with gold,

fitted with a silver chain from the craftsman? 

41.7^c The artisan encourages the smith,

and he who beats with a hammer

urges him who pounds the anvil.

They say of the welding, It is good,

though they fasten it with riveting

that it may not come loose.

20.  Those too poor for this type of sacrifice

select a wood that resists decay.

They seek an expert sculptor

to carve them an image that will not deteriorate.

21.  Are you so unaware, that you have not heard?

Have you not been told before,

that you do not understand

by whom the earth was founded?

22.  ---By him who sits enthroned above the earth’s sphere,

to whom its inhabitants are as grasshoppers,

who suspends the heavens like a canopy,

stretching them out as a tent to dwell in.

23.  By him who brings potentates to nought

and makes the authorities of the world null and void.

24.  When scarcely they are planted,

or scarcely they are sown,

when hardly their stock has taken root in the earth,

he puffs at them and they wither,

and a storm sweeps them off as chaff.

25.  To whom then will you liken me,

to whom can I be compared? says the Holy One.

26.  Lift your eyes heavenward and see:

Who formed these?

He who brings forth their hosts by number,

calling each one by name.

Because he is almighty and all powerful,

not one is unaccounted for.

27.  Why then do you say, O Jacob,

and speak thus, O Israel:

Our path has become obscured from the Lord;

our cause is overlooked by our God?

28.  Is it not known to you; have you not heard?

The Lord is the God of eternity,

Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not grow faint or weary;

his intelligence cannot be fathomed.

29.  He supplies the weary with energy

and increases in vigor those who lack strength.

30.  Youths grow faint and weary,

and young men slump down of exhaustion.

31.  But they who hope in the Lord

shall be renewed in strength:

they shall ascend as on eagles’ wings;

they shall run without wearying,

they shall walk and not faint.