Sermon Central
Isaiah 40
1“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
2“Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”
“Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness!
Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The uneven shall be made level,
and the rough places a plain.
and all flesh shall see it together;
for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
One said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
the flower fades,
because Yahweh’s breath blows on it.
Surely the people are like grass.
the flower fades;
but the word of our God stands forever.”
You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength!
Lift it up! Don’t be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
and his arm will rule for him.
Behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will gather the lambs in his arm,
and carry them in his bosom.
He will gently lead those who have their young.
and marked off the sky with his span,
and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket,
and weighed the mountains in scales,
and the hills in a balance?
or has taught him as his counselor?
and who instructed him,
and taught him in the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance.
Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
Or what likeness will you compare to him?
and the goldsmith overlays it with gold,
and casts silver chains for it.
He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
Haven’t you heard?
Haven’t you been told from the beginning?
Haven’t you understood from the foundations 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,
who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
They are sown scarcely.
Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground.
He merely blows on them, and they wither,
and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
and see who has created these,
who brings out their army by number.
He calls them all by name.
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power,
not one is lacking.
and speak, Israel,
“My way is hidden from Yahweh,
and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”
Haven’t you heard?
The everlasting God, Yahweh,
the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint.
He isn’t weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He increases the strength of him who has no might.
and the young men utterly fall;
They will mount up with wings like eagles.
They will run, and not be weary.
They will walk, and not faint.