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Isaiah 40:12-31 (Listen)

• Isaiah 39
• Isaiah 40
• Isaiah 41

12 qWho has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

13 rWho has measured1 the Spirit of the Lord,

or what man shows him his counsel?

14 Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

sWho taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted tas the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up uthe coastlands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are vits beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 wAll the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 xTo whom then will you liken God,

yor what likeness compare with him?

19 yAn idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

20 zHe who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood2 that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move.

21 aDo you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are blike grasshoppers;

cwho stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23 dwho brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows on them, and they wither,

eand the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 fTo whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:

who created these?

gHe who brings out their host by number,

calling them all by name,

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power

not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob,

and speak, O Israel,

h“My way is hidden from the Lord,

iand my right is disregarded by my God”?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is jthe everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

khis understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but lthey who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings mlike eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

• Isaiah 39
• Isaiah 40
• Isaiah 41