said Hezekiah unto Isaiah: 'Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken.' He said moreover: 'If but there shall be peace and truth in my days.'
40Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,Saith your God.2Bid Jerusalem take heart,And proclaim unto her,That her time of service is accomplished,That her guilt is paid off;That she hath received of the Lord's handDouble for all her sins. 3Hark! one calleth:'Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the Lord,Make plain in the desertA highway for our God.4Every valley shall be lifted up,And every mountain and hill shall be made low;And the rugged shall be made level,And the rough places a plain;5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,And all flesh shall see it together;For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' 6Hark! one saith: 'Proclaim!'And he saith: 'What shall I proclaim?''All flesh is grass,And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field;7The grass withereth, the flower fadeth;Because the breath of the Lord bloweth upon it—Surely the people is grass.8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth;But the word of our God shall stand for ever.' 9O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,Get thee up into the high mountain;O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem,Lift up thy voice with strength;Lift it up, be not afraid;Say unto the cities of Judah:'Behold your God! '10Behold, the Lord God will come as a Mighty One,And His arm will rule for Him;Behold, His reward is with Him,And His recompense before Him.11Even as a shepherd that feedeth his flock,That gathereth the lambs in his arm,And carrieth them in his bosom,And gently leadeth those that give suck. 12Who 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?13Who hath meted out the spirit of the Lord?Or who was His counsellor that he might instruct Him?14With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him,And taught Him in the path of right,And taught Him knowledge,And made Him to know the way of discernment?15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket,And are counted as the small dust of the balance;Behold the isles are as a mote in weight.16And Lebanon is not sufficient fuel,Nor the beasts thereof sufficient for burnt-offerings.17All the nations are as nothing before Him;They are accounted by Him as things of nought, and vanity.18To whom then will ye liken God?Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?19The image perchance, which the craftsman hath melted,And the goldsmith spread over with gold,The silversmith casting silver chains?20A holm-oak is set apart,He chooseth a tree that will not rot;He seeketh unto him a cunning craftsmanTo set up an image, that shall not be moved. 21Know ye not? hear ye not?Hath it not been told you from the beginning?Have ye not understood the foundations of the earth?22It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth,And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,And spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;23That bringeth princes to nothing;He maketh the judges of the earth as a thing of nought.24Scarce are they planted,Scarce are they sown,Scarce hath their stock taken root in the earth;When He bloweth upon them, they wither,And the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.25To whom then will ye liken Me, that I should be equal?Saith the Holy One.26Lift up your eyes on high,And see: who hath created these?He that bringeth out their host by number,He calleth them all by name;By the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power,Not one faileth. 27Why sayest thou, O Jacob,And speakest, O Israel:'My way is hid from the Lord,And my right is passed over from my God'?28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heardThat the everlasting God, the Lord,The Creator of the ends of the earth,Fainteth not, neither is weary?His discernment is past searching out.29He giveth power to the faint;And to him that hath no might He increaseth strength.30Even the youths shall faint and be weary,And the young men shall utterly fall;31But they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;They shall mount up with wings as eagles;They shall run, and not be weary;They shall walk, and not faint. 41Keep silence before Me, O islands,And let the peoples renew their strength;Let them draw near, then let them speak;Let us come near together to judgment.2Who hath raised up one from the east,At whose steps victory attendeth?He giveth nations before him,And maketh him rule over kings;His sword maketh them as the dust,His bow as the driven stubble.3He pursueth them, and passeth on safely;The way with his feet he treadeth not.4Who hath wrought and done it?He that called the generations from the beginning.I, the Lord, who am the first,And with the last am the same.5The isles saw, and feared;The ends of the earth trembled;They drew near, and came. 6They helped every one his neighbour;And every one said to his brother:'Be of good courage.'7So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith,And he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil,Saying of the soldering: 'It is good';And he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved. 8But thou, Israel, My servant,Jacob whom I have chosen,The seed of Abraham My friend;9Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth,And called thee from the uttermost parts thereof,And said unto thee: 'Thou art My servant,I have chosen thee and not cast thee away';10Fear thou not, for I am with thee,Be not dismayed, for I am thy God;I strengthen thee, yea, I help thee;Yea, I uphold thee with My victorious right hand.11Behold, all they that were incensed against theeShall be ashamed and confounded;They that strove with theeShall be as nothing, and shall perish.12Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,Even them that contended with thee;They that warred against theeShall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.13For I the Lord thy GodHold thy right hand,Who say unto thee: 'Fear not,I help thee.' 14Fear not, thou worm Jacob,And ye men of Israel;I help thee, saith the Lord,And thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.15Behold, I make thee a new threshing-sledgeHaving sharp teeth;Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,And shalt make the hills as chaff.16Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away,And the whirlwind shall scatter them;And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,Thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17The poor and needy seek water and there is none,And their tongue faileth for thirst;I the Lord will answer them,I the God of Israel will not forsake them.18I will open rivers on the high hills,And fountains in the midst of the valleys;I will make the wilderness a pool of water,And the dry land springs of water.19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia-tree,And the myrtle, and the oil-tree;I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane-tree, and the larch together;20That they may see, and know,And consider, and understand together,That the hand of the Lord hath done this,And the Holy One of Israel hath created it. 21Produce your cause, saith the Lord;Bring forth your reasons, saith the King of Jacob.22Let them bring them forth, and declare unto usThe things that shall happen;The former things, what are they?Declare ye, that we may consider,And know the end of them;Or announce to us things to come.23Declare the things that are to come hereafter,That we may know that ye are gods;Yea, do good, or do evil,That we may be dismayed, and behold it together.24Behold, ye are nothing,And your work a thing of nought;An abomination is he that chooseth you. 25I have roused up one from the north, and he is come,From the rising of the sun one that calleth upon My name;And he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar,And as the potter treadeth clay.26Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know?And beforetime, that we may say that he is right?Yea, there is none that declareth,Yea, there is none that announceth,Yea, there is none that heareth your utterances.27A harbinger unto Zion will I give: 'Behold, behold them',And to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.28And I look, but there is no man;Even among them, but there is no counsellor,That, when I ask of them, can give an answer.29Behold, all of them,Their works are vanity and nought;Their molten images are wind and confusion. 42Behold My servant, whom I uphold;Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth;I have put My spirit upon him,He shall make the right to go forth to the nations.2He shall not cry, nor lift up,Nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.3A bruised reed shall he not break,And the dimly burning wick shall he not quench;He shall make the right to go forth according to the truth.4He shall not fail nor be crushed,Till he have set the right in the earth;And the isles shall wait for his teaching. 5Thus saith God the Lord,He that created the heavens, and stretched them forth,He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it,He that giveth breath unto the people upon it,And spirit to them that walk therein:6I the Lord have called thee in righteousness,And have taken hold of thy hand,And kept
