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| Comfort, comfort my people, | | Comfort, comfort my people, |
| + | says your God. |
| + | [2] Speak 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. |
| + | [3] A voice cries: |
| + | "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, |
| + | make straight in the desert a highway for our God. |
| + | [4] Every 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. |
| + | [5] And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, |
| + | and all flesh shall see it together, |
| + | for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." |
| + | [6] A 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. |
| + | [7] The grass withers, the flower fades, |
| + | when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; |
| + | surely the people is grass. |
| + | [8] The grass withers, the flower fades; |
| + | but the word of our God will stand for ever. |
| + | [9] Get you up to a high mountain, |
| + | O Zion, herald of good tidings; |
| + | lift up your voice with strength, |
| + | O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, |
| + | lift it up, fear not; |
| + | say to the cities of Judah, |
| + | "Behold your God!" |
| + | [10] Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, |
| + | and his arm rules for him; |
| + | behold, his reward is with him, |
| + | and his recompense before him. |
| + | [11] He will feed 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. |
| + | [12] Who 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? |
| + | [13] Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, |
| + | or as his counselor has instructed him? |
| + | [14] Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, |
| + | and who taught him the path 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 accounted as the dust on the scales; |
| + | behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust. |
| + | [16] Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, |
| + | nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. |
| + | [17] All the nations are as nothing before him, |
| + | they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. |
| + | [18] To whom then will you liken God, |
| + | or what likeness compare with him? |
| + | [19] The idol! a workman casts it, |
| + | and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, |
| + | and casts for it silver chains. |
| + | [20] He who is impoverished chooses for an offering |
| + | wood that will not rot; |
| + | he seeks out a skilful craftsman |
| + | to set up an image that will not move. |
| + | [21] Have you not known? Have you not heard? |
| + | Has it not been told 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 like a tent to dwell in; |
| + | [23] who brings princes to nought, |
| + | and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. |
| + | [24] Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, |
| + | scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, |
| + | when he blows upon them, and they wither, |
| + | and the tempest carries them off like stubble. |
| + | [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 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. |
| + | [27] Why do you say, O Jacob, |
| + | and speak, O Israel, |
| + | "My way is hid from the LORD, |
| + | and my right is disregarded by my God"? |
| + | [28] Have 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. |
| + | [29] He gives power to the faint, |
| + | and to him who has no might he increases strength. |
| + | [30] Even youths shall faint and be weary, |
| + | and young men shall fall exhausted; |
| + | [31] but 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. |
| + | |
| + | ==Chapter .40== |
| + | [1]Comfort, comfort my people, |
| says your God. | | says your God. |
| [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, | | [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, |
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| ==Chapter .41== | | ==Chapter .41== |
− | [1] | + | [1] Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; |
− | | |
− | Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; | |
| let the peoples renew their strength; | | let the peoples renew their strength; |
| let them approach, then let them speak; | | let them approach, then let them speak; |