Isaiah 40:1-31

“Comfort, comfort my people,”  says your God. “Speak tenderly to   Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of hard service is over, her iniquity  has been pardoned,  and she has received from the  LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”  A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the  LORD in the wilderness;  make a straight highway for our God in the desert.  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 appear,  and all humanity  together will see it,  for the mouth of the  LORD has spoken.  A voice was saying, “Cry out! ” Another said,  “What should I cry out? ” “All humanity is grass,  and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath  of the  LORD blows on them;  indeed, the people are grass. The grass withers, the flowers fade,  but the word of our God remains forever.”  Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain.  Jerusalem, herald of good news,  raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God! ”  See, the Lord GOD comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule.  His wages are with him,  and his reward accompanies him. He protects his flock like a shepherd;  he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?  Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales? Who has directed  the Spirit of the  LORD, or who gave him counsel?  Who did he consult? Who gave him understanding  and taught him the paths of justice? Who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding? Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; he lifts up the islands like fine dust. Lebanon’s cedars are not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering.  All the nations are as nothing before him; they are considered by him as empty nothingness.  With whom will you compare God? What likeness will you set up for comparison with him?  An idol? #— #something that a smelter casts and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver chains for?  A poor person contributes wood for a pedestal that will not rot.  He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.  Do you not know?  Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?  God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.  He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth  and spreads them out like a tent to live in.  He reduces princes to nothing  and makes judges of the earth like a wasteland. They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.  “To whom will you compare me,  or who is my equal? ” asks the Holy One. Look up and see! Who created  these? He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name.  Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing. Jacob, why do you say, and Israel, why do you assert, “My way is hidden from the  LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?  Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God,  the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.  He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the  LORD will renew their strength;  they will soar on wings like eagles;  they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.