1 ¶ Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her, that her time of hard service is over, that her sin is pardoned: for she has received from the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.

3 ¶ The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the LORD, make a straight highway in the desert for our God.

4 Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be made low: and the crooked will be made straight, and the rough places plain:

5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

6 A voice says, Preach. And I asked, What shall I preach? All people are grass, and all their beauty like a flower of the field:

7 The grass withers, the flower fades: when the breath of the LORD blows upon it: surely all people are as grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God will stand for ever.

9 ¶ O you, who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on the high mountains; O you, who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with power; lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm will rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his gifts go before him.

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd: he will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those who are with young.

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

13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or as his counselor has taught him?

14 With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him, who taught him the paths of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are weighed like dust on the scales: behold, he lifts up the islands like tiny specks.

16 There are not enough animals for a burnt offering, and not enough wood in Lebanon for the fire.

17 Before him all the nations are as nothing; and he regards them as less than nothing, and worthless.

18 ¶ To whom then will you compare God? or what likeness can you make of him?

19 A workman casts a metal image, and a goldsmith covers it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

20 One who is so impoverished that he does not have the price chooses a tree that will not rot; and looks for a skilled workman to prepare a graven image, that will not fall over.

21 Do you not know? have you not heard? has it not been told to you from the beginning? do you not realize how the earth was made?

22 It is he who sits above the sphere of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; It is he who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in:

23 It is he who reduces princes to nothing; he makes the rulers of the world worthless.

24 Yea, scarcely have they been planted; yea, scarcely have they been sown: yea, their stem has hardly taken root in the ground: and he blows upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away like straw.

25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and consider who has created these things, who brings out their multitude by number: he calls them all by name. Because he is so strong and powerful; not one star is missing.

27 ¶ Jacob, why do you complain, Israel, why do you say, God does not know what happens to me, and God does not hear my petition?

28 Do you not realize? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the entire earth, does not faint, or grow weary? there is no limit to his understanding.

29 He gives power to the faint; and increases the strength of those who have no might.

30 Even young men get tired and grow weary, and in spite of their vigor they may fall exhausted:

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