ASV - Isaiah Chapter 39 to 41

39 Isaiah 39

¹At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. ²And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not. ³Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. ⁴Then said he, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. ⁵Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: ⁶Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah. ⁷And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ⁸Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

40 Isaiah 40

¹Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. ²Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.

³The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain: ⁵and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

⁶The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. ⁷The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the breath of Jehovah bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. ⁸The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever.

⁹O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! ¹⁰Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. ¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those that have their young.

¹²Who 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? ¹³Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, or being his counsellor hath taught him? ¹⁴With whom took he 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? ¹⁵Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. ¹⁶And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. ¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

¹⁸To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? ¹⁹The image, a workman hath cast it, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth for it silver chains. ²⁰He that is too impoverished for such an oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a skilful workman to set up a graven image, that shall not be moved. ²¹Have ye not known? have yet not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? ²²It is he that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in; ²³that bringeth princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. ²⁴Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble. ²⁵To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking.

²⁷Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah, and the justice due to me is passed away from my God? ²⁸Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. ²⁹He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. ³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: ³¹but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

41 Isaiah 41

¹Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the peoples renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment. ²Who hath raised up one from the east, whom he calleth in righteousness to his foot? he giveth nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; he giveth them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow. ³He pursueth them, and passeth on safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet. ⁴Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last, I am he. ⁵The isles have seen, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble; they draw near, and come. ⁶They help every one his neighbor; and every one saith to his brother, Be of good courage. ⁷So the carpenter encourageth the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that is should not be moved.

⁸But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend, ⁹thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away; ¹⁰Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ¹¹Behold, all they that are incensed against thee shall be put to shame and confounded: they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish. ¹²Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contend with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. ¹³For I, Jehovah thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. ¹⁴Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. ¹⁶Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst; I, Jehovah, will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. ¹⁸I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. ¹⁹I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together: ²⁰that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

²¹Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. ²²Let them bring forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. ²³Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. ²⁴Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

²⁵I have raised up one from the north, and he is come; from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon my name: and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. ²⁶Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is right? yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that heareth your words. ²⁷I am the first that saith unto Zion, Behold, behold them; and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. ²⁸And when I look, there is no man: even among them there is no counsellor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word. ²⁹Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.