Isaiah 40

1 Παρακαλεῖτε παρακαλεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου, λέγει ὁ Θεός.

2 Ἱερεῖς λαλήσατε εἰς τὴν καρδίαν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, παρακαλέσατε αὐτὴν, ὅτι ἐπλήσθη ἡ ταπείνωσις αὐτῆς, λέλυται αὐτῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὅτι ἐδέξατο ἐκ χειρὸς Κυρίου διπλᾶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῆς.

3 Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν Κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν.

4 Πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται, καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται· καὶ ἔσται πάντα τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν, καὶ ἡ τραχεῖα εἰς πεδία.

5 Καὶ ὀφθήσεται ἡ δόξα Κυρίου, καὶ ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησε.

6 Φωνὴ λέγοντος, βόησον· καὶ εἶπα, τί βοήσω; πᾶσα σὰρξ χορτὸς, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου·

7 Ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσε·

8 τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

9 Ἐπʼ ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάβηθι ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Σιὼν, ὕψωσον τῇ ἰσχύϊ τὴν φωνήν σου ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Ἱερουσαλήμ· ὑψώσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε· εἰπὸν ταῖς πόλεσιν Ἰούδα, ἰδοὺ ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν, ἰδοὺ Κύριος·

10 Κύριος μετὰ ἰσχύος ἔρχεται, καὶ ὁ βραχίων μετὰ κυρίας· ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς αὐτοῦ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ.

11 Ὡς ποιμὴν ποιμανεῖ τὸ ποίμνιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῷ βραχίονι αὐτοῦ συνάξει ἄρνας, καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσας παρακαλέσει.

12 Τίς ἐμέτρησε τῇ χειρὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί; τίς ἔστησε τὰ ὄρη σταθμῷ, καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ;

13 Τίς ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου; καὶ τίς αὐτοῦ σύμβουλος ἐγένετο, ὃς συμβιβᾷ αὐτόν;

14 Ἢ πρὸς τίνα συνεβουλεύσατο, καὶ συνεβίβασεν αὐτόν; ἢ τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ κρίσιν; ἢ ὁδὸν συνέσεως τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ;

15 Εἰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὡς σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου, καὶ ὡς ῥοπὴ ζυγοῦ ἐλογίσθησαν, ὡς σίελος λογισθήσονται;

16 Ὁ δὲ Λίβανος οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἰς καῦσιν, καὶ πάντα τὰ τετράποδα οὐχ ἱκανὰ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν,

17 καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὡς οὐδέν εἰσι, καὶ εἰς οὐθὲν ἐλογίσθησαν.

18 Τίνι ὡμοιώσατε Κύριον; καὶ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν;

19 Μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησε τέκτων, ἢ χρυσοχόος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτὸν, ὁμοίωμα κατεσκεύασεν αὐτόν;

20 Ξύλον γὰρ ἄσηπτον ἐκλέγεται τέκτων, καὶ σοφῶς ζητήσει πῶς στήσει εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἵνα μὴ σαλεύηται.

21 Οὐ γνώσεσθε; οὐκ ἀκούσεσθε; οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑμῖν; οὐκ ἔγνωτε τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς;

22 Ὁ κατέχων τὸν γῦρον τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ ὡς ἀκρίδες· ὁ στήσας ὡς καμάραν τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖν·

23 Ὁ διδοὺς ἄρχοντας ὡς οὐδὲν ἄρχειν, τὴν δὲ γῆν ὡς οὐδὲν ἐποίησεν.

24 Οὐ γὰρ μὴ φυτεύσωσιν, οὐδὲ μὴ σπείρωσιν, οὐδὲ μὴ ῥιζωθῇ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἡ ῥίζα αὐτῶν· ἔπνευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐξηράνθησαν, καὶ καταιγὶς ὡς φρύγανα λήψεται αὐτούς.

25 Νῦν οὖν τίνι με ὡμοιώσατε, καὶ ὑψωθήσομαι; εἶπεν ὁ ἅγιος.

26 Ἀναβλέψατε εἰς ὕψος τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν, καὶ ἴδετε, τίς κατέδειξε ταῦτα πάντα; ὁ ἐκφέρων κατʼ ἀριθμὸν τὸν κόσμον αὐτοῦ, πάντας ἐπʼ ὀνόματι καλέσει ἀπὸ πολλῆς δόξης, καὶ ἐν κράτει ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ· οὐδέν σε ἔλαθε.

27 Μὴ γὰρ εἴπῃς Ἰακὼβ, καὶ τί ἐλάλησας Ἰσραήλ; ἀπεκρύβη ἡ ὁδός μου ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ Θεός μου τὴν κρίσιν ἀφεῖλε, καὶ ἀπέστη.

28 Καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἔγνως; εἰ μὴ ἤκουσας; Θεὸς αἰώνιος, ὁ Θεὸς ὁ κατασκευάσας τὰ ἄκρα τῆς γῆς· οὐ πεινάσει, οὐδὲ κοπιάσει, οὐδὲ ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ,

29 διδοὺς τοῖς πεινῶσιν ἰσχὺν, καὶ τοῖς μὴ ὀδυνωμένοις λύπην.

30 Πεινάσουσι γὰρ νεώτεροι, καὶ κοπιάσουσι νεανίσκοι, καὶ ἐκλεκτοὶ ἀνίσχυες ἔσονται.

31 Οἱ δὲ ὑπομένοντες τὸν Θεὸν, ἀλλάξουσιν ἰσχὺν, πτεροφυήσουσιν ὡς ἀετοὶ, δραμοῦνται καὶ οὐ κοπιάσουσι, βαδιοῦνται καὶ οὐ πεινάσουσιν.

1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith God.

2 Speak, ye priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord's hand double the amount of her sins.

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.

4 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough places plains.

See Luke 3. 5, with which Alex. agrees.

5 And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken it .

6 The voice of one saying, Cry; and I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.

7 The grass withers, and the flower fades:

8 but the word of our God abides for ever.

9 O thou that bringest glad tidings to Zion, go up on the high mountain; lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest glad tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, fear not; say unto the cities of Juda, Behold your God!

10 Behold the Lord! The Lord is coming with strength, and his arm is with power: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

11 He shall tend his flock as a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall soothe them that are with young.

12 Who has measured the water in his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in scales, and the forests in a balance?

13 Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counsellor, to instruct him?

14 Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgment, or who has taught him the way of understanding;

+ Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? Rom. 11. 35; Heb. omits.

15 since all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, and shall be counted as spittle?

16 And Libanus is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole-burnt offering:

17 and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.

18 To whom have ye compared the Lord? and with what likeness have ye compared him?

19 Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilt it over, and made it a similitude?

20 For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely enquire how he shall set up his image, and that so that it should not be moved.

21 Will ye not know? will ye not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have ye not known the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; he that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in:

23 he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.

24 For they shall not plant, neither shall they sow, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground: he has blown upon them, and they are withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks.

25 Now then to whom have ye compared me, that I may be exalted? saith the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see, who has displayed all these things? even he that brings forth his host by number: he shall call them all by name by means of his great glory, and by the power of his might: nothing has escaped thee.

27 For say not thou, O Jacob, and why hast thou spoken, Israel, saying , My way is hid from God, and my God has taken away my judgment, and has departed?

28 And now, hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? the eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, and there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.

30 For the young men shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice men shall be powerless:

31 but they that wait on God shall renew their strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not hunger.