Isaiah 40:15-42:13

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
¹⁶ Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,
Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before Him,
They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare with Him?
¹⁹ As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,
A goldsmith plates it with gold,
And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.
²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering
Selects a tree that does not rot;
He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman
To prepare an idol that will not totter.

²¹ Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
²³ He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,
Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
²⁴ Scarcely have they been planted,
Scarcely have they been sown,
Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,
But He merely blows on them, and they wither,
And the storm carries them away like stubble.
²⁵ “To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?
²⁸ Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired.
His understanding is inscrutable.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.
³⁰ Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,
³¹ Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

⁵ The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
The ends of the earth tremble;
They have drawn near and have come.
⁶ Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
⁷ So the craftsman encourages the smelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he fastens it with nails,
So that it will not totter.
⁸ “But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of Abraham My friend,
⁹ You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
¹⁰ ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
¹¹ “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
¹² “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
¹³ “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’
¹⁴ “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel;
I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them,
And will make the hills like chaff.
¹⁶ “You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will rejoice in the Lord,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷ “The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none,
And their tongue is parched with thirst;
I, the Lord, will answer them Myself,
As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.
¹⁸ “I will open rivers on the bare heights
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
And the dry land fountains of water.
¹⁹ “I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree;
I will place the juniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,
²⁰ That they may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹ “Present your case,” the Lord says.
“Bring forward your strong arguments,”
The King of Jacob says.
²² Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the former events, declare what they were,
That we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
²³ Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
²⁴ Behold, you are of no account,
And your work amounts to nothing;
He who chooses you is an abomination.

²⁵ “I have aroused one from the north, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar,
Even as the potter treads clay.”
²⁶ Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
Surely there was no one who declared,
Surely there was no one who proclaimed,
Surely there was no one who heard your words.
²⁷ “Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’
²⁸ “But when I look, there is no one,
And there is no counselor among them
Who, if I ask, can give an answer.
²⁹ “Behold, all of them are false;
Their works are worthless,
Their molten images are wind and emptiness.

¹⁰ Sing to the Lord a new song,
Sing His praise from the end of the earth!
You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it.
You islands, and those who dwell on them.
¹¹ Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The settlements where Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.
¹² Let them give glory to the Lord
And declare His praise in the coastlands.
¹³ The Lord will go forth like a warrior,
He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.
He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
He will prevail against His enemies.