Isaiah 40

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.	1 Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.	2 Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!	3 The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.
4 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.	4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.
5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all mankind shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.	5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
6 One man helps another, one says to the other, "Keep on!"	6 The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the held.
7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, the one who beats with the hammer, him who strikes on the anvil; He says the soldering is good, and he fastens it with nails to steady it.	7 The grass is withered, and the dower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:
8 Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever."	8 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.
9 Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God!	9 Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God:
10 Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.	10 Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.
11 Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.	11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he himself shall carry them that are with young.
12 Who has cupped in his hand the waters of the sea, and marked off the heavens with a span? Who has held in a measure the dust of the earth, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?	12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the spirit of the LORD, or has instructed him as his counselor?	13 Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him?
14 Whom did he consult to gain knowledge? Who taught him the path of judgment, or showed him the way of understanding?	14 With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations count as a drop in the bucket, as dust on the scales; the coastlands weigh no more than powder.	15 Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust.
16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor its animals be enough for holocausts.	16 And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 Before him all the nations are as nought, as nothing and void he accounts them.	17 All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom can you liken God? With what equal can you confront him?	18 To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make for him?
19 An idol, cast by a craftsman, which the smith plates with gold and fits with silver chains?	19 Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
20 Mulberry wood, the choice portion which a skilled craftsman picks out for himself, Choosing timber that will not rot, to set up an idol that will not be unsteady?	20 He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Was it not foretold you from the beginning? Have you not understood? Since the earth was founded	21 Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the earth ?
22 He sits enthroned above the vault of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; He stretches out the heavens like a veil, spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.	22 It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
23 He brings princes to nought and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.	23 He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 Scarcely are they planted or sown, scarcely is their stem rooted in the earth, When he breathes upon them and they wither, and the stormwind carries them away like straw.	24 And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom can you liken me as an equal? says the Holy One.	25 And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith the Holy One?
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these: He leads out their army and numbers them, calling them all by name. By his great might and the strength of his power not one of them is missing!	26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power, not one of them was missing.
27 Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?	27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.	28 Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.
29 He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.	29 It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force and might to them that are not.
30 Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall,	30 Youths shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by infirmity.
31 They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.	31 But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.