The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

 1 Comfort ye, ^acomfort ye my people, saith your God.

 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her ^awarfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is ^bpardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand ^cdouble for all her sins.

 3 ¶The ^avoice of him that crieth in the wilderness, ^bPrepare ye the ^cway of the Lord, make straight in the desert a ^dhighway for our God.

 4 Every ^avalley shall be ^bexalted, and every ^cmountain and hill shall be made ^dlow: and the ^ecrooked shall be made straight, and ^fthe rough places plain:

 5 And the ^aglory of the Lord shall be ^brevealed, and all flesh shall ^csee it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All ^aflesh is ^bgrass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:

 7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.

 8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the ^aword of our God shall stand for ever.

 9 ¶O ^aZion, that bringest ^bgood ^ctidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of ^dJudah, Behold your God!

 10 Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his ^aarm shall rule for him: behold, his ^breward is with him, and his work before him.

 11 He shall feed his ^aflock like a ^bshepherd: 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 hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

 13 Who hath ^adirected the ^bSpirit of the Lord, or being his ^ccounsellor hath taught him?

 14 With whom took he ^acounsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of ^bjudgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

 15 Behold, the ^anations are as a ^bdrop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the ^cisles as a very little thing.

 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.

 17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and ^avanity.

 18 ¶To whom then will ye ^aliken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the ^agoldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.

 20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that ^ashall not be moved.

 21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that ^astretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

 23 That bringeth the ^aprinces to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

 24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

 25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by ^anames by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

 27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is ^apassed over from my God?

 28 ¶Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the ^aeverlasting God, the Lord, the ^bCreator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no ^csearching of his understanding.

 29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

 31 But they that ^await upon the Lord shall ^brenew their ^cstrength; they shall mount up with wings as ^deagles; they shall ^erun, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.