Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, will your God say

Every valley will be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill will be leveled;
the uneven ground will become smooth
and the rough places, a plain.

And the glory of the Lord will be made clear, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has said it.

Grass withers; [the] flower withers, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come with might, and his arm shall rule for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompence before him.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather [the] lambs in his arm, and he will carry [them] in his bosom; he will lead those who nurse.

Who measured the spirit of Jehovah? and will a man of his counsel make him to know?

With whom did he consult, and will he cause him to understand and teach him in the path of judgment, and teach him knowledge, and cause him to know the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations as a drop from a bucket; they were reckoned as the fine dust of the scales: behold, he will cast down the isles as small dust

Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings.

And to whom will you liken God? And to what likeness will you compare him?

The artificer cast the carved image, and the founder will spread it out with gold, and he smelted chains of silver.

The one who is [too] impoverished [for] a gift chooses wood [that] will not rot; he seeks a skillful artisan for himself to set up an image [that] will not be knocked over.

Will ye not know? will ye not hear? was it not announced to you from the beginning? did ye not understand from the foundations of the earth?

He sitting upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants as locusts; he stretching out the heavens as fine cloth, and he will extend them as a tent to dwell in:

Also they were not planted: also they were not sown: also their stock took not root in the earth: and he also blew upon them and they will be dried up, and the storm will lift them up as straw.

"And to whom you will compare me, and am I equal?" says [the] holy one.

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who created these, bringing forth their army by number: he will call to all of them by name, from the multitude of their strength; and he is strong of power; a man was not wanting.

Wherefore, shouldest thou say, O Jacob, or speak, O Israel, - Hidden is my path from Yahweh, And from my God, my vindication, will pass?

Didst thou not know? heardest thou not the eternal God, Jehovah, creating the extremities of the earth, will not faint, and will not be weary? no searching to his understanding.

He gave power to the faint; and to the not strong he will increase strength.

Even young people will be faint and grow weary, and [the] young will stumble, exhausted.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness.

Be silent to me, ye islands; and the people shall change strength: they shall draw near; then shall they speak: together we will come near for judgment

Who raised up justice from the sunrising? he shall call him to his foot; he will give the nations before him; and he will bring down kings: he will give as the dust of his sword, as driven straw, his bow.

He will pursue them, he will pass over in peace; the path he will not come in with his feet

Who has performed and carried this out, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD the first and will be with the last I am the One!"

The isles saw, and they will be afraid; the extremities of the earth will tremble; they drew near and they will come.

They will help a man his neighbor, and he will say to his brother, Be strong.

The craftsman encourages the metalworker;
the one who flattens with the hammer
supports the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good.”
He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.

whom I led from the ends of the earth by the hand: For I called thee from far, and said unto thee 'Thou shalt be my servant,' I have chosen thee, and will not cast thee away.

You must not fear, for I [am] with you; you must not be afraid, for I [am] your God. I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you, indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.

Truly, all those who are angry with you will be made low and put to shame: those desiring to do you wrong will come to nothing and never again be seen.

You will make search for your haters but they will not be there; those who make war against you will be as nothing and will come to destruction.

For I, Yahweh your God, [am] grasping your right hand; {it is I who say} to you, "You must not fear; I myself, I will help you.

You must not fear, O worm of Jacob; people of Israel, I myself, I will help you," {declares} Yahweh, "and your redeemer [is] the holy one of Israel.

Look! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge, {with} sharp edges. You shall thresh and crush [the] mountains, and you shall make [the] hills like chaff.

You will send the wind over them, and it will take them away; they will go in all directions before the storm-wind: you will have joy in the Lord, and be glad in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and the needy [are] seeking water and [there is] none; their tongue is dried up with thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will open rivers on [the] barren heights and fountains in [the] midst of [the] valleys. I will make [the] wilderness like a pool of water and [the] land of dryness like springs of water.

I will {put} [the] cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive oil tree in the wilderness; I will set [the] cypress, elm, and box tree together in the desert

I will do this so people will observe and recognize, so they will pay attention and understand that the Lord's power has accomplished this, and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being."

Bring near your cause, Will say Jehovah; draw near your strong defences, will the king of Jacob say:

Let them bring [them], and let them tell us what will happen. Tell us what the former things [are] {so that} we may take [them to] our heart and know their outcome. Declare to us the things to come;

Give us word of what will be after this, so that we may be certain that you are gods: yes, do good or do evil, so that we may all see it and be surprised.

Behold, ye are from nothing, and your work no more: an abomination he will choose in you.

I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come, from the rising of the sun, he who will call upon my name; and he shall come upon princes as on mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

Who declared this from the beginning, and we will know him; or from the old times, and we will confess and say that he is righteous? But there is none that showeth or declareth anything; there is none also that heareth your words.

The first, I said to Zion, Behold, behold them! and to Jerusalem, I will give one that bringeth glad tidings.

And I shall see, and no man; and from these, and no counselor; and I shall ask them, and they will not turn back a word.

Look! [here is] my servant; I hold him, my chosen one, [in whom] my soul delights. I have {put} my spirit on him; he will bring justice forth to the nations.

He will not cry out and lift up and make his voice heard in the street.

He will not break a broken reed, and he not will extinguish a dim wick. He will bring justice forth in faithfulness.

He will not grow faint, and he will not be broken until he has established justice in the earth. And [the] coastlands wait for his teaching.

I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will take hold of thy hand; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations,

I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth will I cause you to hear them.

Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man, he will stir up jealousy like a man of war: he will cry, yea, he will shout; he will shew himself mighty against his enemies.

I have been silent for a long time; I have kept silent; I have restrained myself like one giving birth; I will moan, pant, and gasp together.

I will cause mountains and hills to dry up, and I will cause all their herbage to wither; and I will make rivers like islands, and I will cause pools to dry up.

And I will lead the blind by a road they do not know; I will cause [them] to tread on paths they have not known. I will make darkness {in their presence} into light and rough places into level ground. These [are] the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.

They will be turned back and be greatly shamed who put their hope in pictured images, who say to metal images, You are our gods.

Seeing many things, and thou wilt not watch; opening the ears, and he will not bear.

The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.

But this is a people despoiled and plundered;
All of them are trapped in holes,
Or are hidden away in prisons.
They have become a prey with no one to rescue them,
And a spoil, with no one to say, “Give them back!”

Who among you will heed this, will listen attentively and listen, for {the time to come}?

And be will pour upon him the heat of his anger, and the strength of war: and it will burn him from round about, and he will not know; and it will feed upon him and he will not lay to the heart.

Now, this is what the Lord says, the one who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: "Don't be afraid, for I will protect you. I call you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I [will be] with you, and through the rivers, they shall not flow over you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and [the] flame shall not scorch you.

Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee; and I will give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.

You must not fear, for I [am] with you. I will bring your {offspring} from [the] east, and I will gather you from [the] west.

I will say to the north, 'Give!' and to [the] south, 'You must not withhold!' Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the end of the earth--

Gather all nations together, and people shall be collected: who among them shall announce this, and will they cause us to hear former things? shall they give their witnesses, and be justified? and will they hear, and say, Truth

You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have taken for myself: so that you may see and have faith in me, and that it may be clear to you that I am he; before me there was no God formed, and there will not be after me.

I, have told - and will save, and make known, That there is among you no strange one; And, ye, are my witnesses, Declareth Yahweh That, I, am GOD.

Yea, since the day was, I am HE, and there is none that delivereth out of my hand: I will work, and who shall hinder it?

Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the holy one of Israel: "For your sake I will send [to] Babylon, and I will cause all of them to fall down [as] fugitives, and {the Chaldeans}, their rejoicing on the ships.

Who sends out the war-carriages and the horses, the army with all its force; they have come down, they will not get up again; like a feebly burning light they are put out.

Will ye not remember the former things? will ye not discern the things of old?

Look! I [am] about to do a new thing! Now it sprouts! Do you not perceive it? Indeed, I will {make} a way in the wilderness, rivers in [the] desert.

The animals of the field will honor me, jackals and daughters of [the] ostrich, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in [the] desert, to give a drink [to] my chosen people,

The people I formed for Myself
will declare My praise.

I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Cause me to remember; we will judge together; relate thou so that thou shalt be justified.

Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling.

Thus says Yahweh, who made you, and who formed you in [the] womb and will help you: you must not fear, my servant Jacob, and Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

For I will pour out water on a thirsty [land] and streams on dry ground. I will pour my spirit out on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.

And they will come up like grass in a well-watered field, like water-plants by the streams.

This [one] will say, 'I belong to Yahweh!' And that [one] will be called by the name of Jacob, and another will write [on] his hand 'Yahweh's' and {take the name} of Israel."

Who, like Me, can announce the future?
Let him say so and make a case before Me,
since I have established an ancient people.
Let these gods declare the coming things,
and what will take place.

All those who form an idol [are] nothing, and their delightful things do not profit. And their witnesses do not see or know, so they will be ashamed.

Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless?

Truly, all those who make use of secret arts will be put to shame, and their words of power are only words of men: let them all come forward together; they will all be in fear and be put to shame.

The workman of iron with an axe also worked with coal, and he will cleave it with hammers, and will work with the arm of his strength: also he hungered and no strength: he drank not water and was wearied.

The workman of woods stretched out the line; he will delineate it with an awl, he will do it with chisels, and he will delineate it with a compass, and he will make it according to the image of a man, according to the beauty of man; to dwell in the house

To cut down for him cedars, and he will take the fir tree and the oak, and he will strengthen for himself among the trees of the forest: he planted an ash and the rain will cause to grow.

Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take of it, and warm himself; yea, he kindles it, and bakes bread; yea, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down to it.

Half of it he burnt in the fire; upon half of it he will eat flesh; he will roast roast, and he will be satisfied: also he will be warm, and he will say, Aha, I was warm, I saw the light

And its remainder he made for a god, for his carved image: he will fall down to it, and he will worship and pray to it, and say, Deliver me, for thou my god.

They will not know, and they will not discern: he spread over their eyes from seeing; their heart from considering.