New Living Translation

English Standard Version

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

1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.”

2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

3Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!

3A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places.

4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

5Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!”

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

6A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field.

6A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

7The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people.

7The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.

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

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

9O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!”

9Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”

10Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.

10Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. The LORD Has No Equal

11He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

12Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?

12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

13Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?

13Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?

14Has the LORD ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?

14Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.

15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

16All the wood in Lebanon’s forests and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough to make a burnt offering worthy of our God.

16Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17The nations of the world are worth nothing to him. In his eyes they count for less than nothing— mere emptiness and froth.

17All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him?

18To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

19Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?

19An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.

20Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down!

20He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

21Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God— the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant?

21Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.

22It 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 like a tent to dwell in;

23He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing.

23who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff.

24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25“To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

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

26Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.

26Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.

27O Jacob, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights?

27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?

28Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

29He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

29He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.

30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

31But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

31but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.