1. Comfort, O comfort, My people,says your God.
2. Speak kindly to Jerusalem,and cry to herthat her warfare has ended,that her iniquity has been pardoned,that she has received of the hand of the Lorddouble for all her sins.
3. The voice of him who cries out,“Prepare the way of the Lordin the wilderness,make straight in the deserta highway for our God.
4. Let every valley be lifted up,and every mountain and hill be made low,and let the rough ground become a plain,and the rough places a plain;
5. then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together,for the mouth of the Lord has spokenit.”
6. The voice said, “Cry out.”And he said, “What shall I cry out?” All flesh is grass,and all its loveliness is as the flower of the field.
7. The grass withers, the flower fadesbecause the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it;surely the people are grass.
8. The grass withers, the flower fades,but the word of our God shall stand forever.
9. O Zion, bearer of good news,get yourself up onto a high mountain;O Jerusalem, bearer of good news,lift up your voice with strength,lift it up, do not be afraid;say to the cities of Judah,“Here is your God!”
10. See, the Lord God will come with a strong hand,and His arm shall rule for Him;see, His reward is with Him,and His recompense before Him.
11. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd;He shall gather the lambs with His arm,and carry them in His bosom,and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,and meted out heaven with the span,and calculated the dust of the earth by the 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 taught Him?
14. With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,and taught Him in the path of justice,and taught Him knowledge,and showed to Him the way of understanding?
15. Certainly the nations are as a drop in a bucket,and are counted as the small dust of the balance;He takes up the coastlands as a very little thing.
16. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,nor the beasts sufficient as a burnt offering.
17. All nations before Him are as nothing,and they are counted by Him as less than nothingand meaningless.
18. To whom then will you liken God?Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19. The workman melts a graven image,and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold,and casts silver chains.