Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of theLORD’shand double for all her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of theLORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
And the glory of theLORDshall be revealed, and all flesh shall seeittogether: for the mouth of theLORDhath spokenit.
The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All fleshisgrass, and all the goodliness thereofisas the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of theLORDbloweth upon it: surely the peopleisgrass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; liftitup, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Behold, the LordGODwill come with stronghand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his rewardiswith him, and his work before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carrythemin his bosom,andshall gently lead those that are with young.
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Who hath directed the Spirit of theLORD, orbeinghis counsellor hath taught him?
With whom took he counsel, andwhoinstructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nationsareas a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
And Lebanonisnot sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
All nations before himareas nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
He thatisso impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a treethatwill not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image,thatshall not be moved.
Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It ishe that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereofareas grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created thesethings, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for thathe isstrong in power; not one faileth.
Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from theLORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard,thatthe everlasting God, theLORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?there isno searching of his understanding.
He giveth power to the faint; and tothem that haveno might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon theLORDshall renewtheirstrength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary;andthey shall walk, and not faint.