Isaiah · Catholic Public Domain Version
Isaiah 40 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
1 “Be consoled, be consoled, O my people!” says your God.
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out to her! For her malice has reached its end. Her iniquity has been forgiven. She has received double for all her sins from the hand of the Lord.
2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”
3 The voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight the paths of our God, in a solitary place.
3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
4 Every valley will be exalted, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked will be straightened, and the uneven will become level ways.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed. And all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
5 Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
6 The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” And I said, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
6 The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. For the Spirit of the Lord has blown over it. Truly, the people are like grass.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
8 The grass has dried up, and the flower has fallen. But the Word of our Lord remains for eternity.”
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
9 You who evangelize Zion, climb a high mountain! You who evangelize Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah: “Behold, your God!”
9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord God will arrive in strength, and his arm will rule. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work is before him.
10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will pasture his flock like a shepherd. He will gather together the lambs with his arm, and he will lift them up to his bosom, and he himself will carry the very young.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and who has weighed the heavens with his palm? Who has suspended the mass of the earth with three fingers, and who has weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on a scale?
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has assisted the Spirit of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor and has revealed things to him?
13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
14 With whom has he consulted? And who has instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and guided him to knowledge, and revealed the way of understanding to him?
14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop of water in a bucket, and they are considered as the smallest grain on a balance. Behold, the islands are like a little dust.
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon will not be sufficient to start a fire, and its animals will not be sufficient for a burnt offering.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations in his sight are as if they did not exist, and they are considered by him as if they were nothingness and emptiness.
17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18 Therefore, to whom would you liken God? Or with what image would you replace him?
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19 Should the workman cast a statue? Or has the goldsmith formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20 He has chosen strong wood that will not decay. The skillful artisan seeks a way to set up an idol that cannot be moved.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not understood the foundations of the earth?
21 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 He is the One who sits upon the globe of the earth, and its inhabitants are like locusts. He extends the heavens as if they were nothing, and he spreads them out like a tent, in which to dwell.
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
23 He has brought those who examine what is secret to nothingness. He has brought the judges of the earth to emptiness.
23 who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24 And certainly, their stalk was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the ground. He has suddenly blown across them, and they have withered, and a whirlwind will carry them away like chaff.
24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25 “And to whom would you compare me or equate me?” says the Holy One.
25 “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things. He leads forth their army by number, and he calls them all by name. Because of the fullness of his strength and robustness and virtue, not one of them was left behind.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
27 Why do you say this, O Jacob, and why do you speak this way, O Israel? “My way has been hidden from the Lord, and my judgment escaped notice by my God.”
27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know, or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, who has created the limits of the earth. He does not diminish, and he does not struggle. Neither is his wisdom searchable.
28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 It is he who gives strength to the weary, and it is he who increases fortitude and strength in those who are failing.
29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30 Servants will struggle and fail, and young men will fall into infirmity.
30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will take up wings like eagles. They will run and not struggle. They will walk and not tire.
31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
Cross references (31)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 1:4; Isaiah 51:12; Isaiah 51:3; Zephaniah 3:14–17; Zechariah 1:13
- 2 Zechariah 9:12; Isaiah 61:7; Hosea 2:14; Jeremiah 33:8–9; Revelation 18:6
- 3 Malachi 3:1; Mark 1:2–5; John 1:23; Matthew 3:1–3; Luke 1:16–17
- 4 Luke 3:5; Ezekiel 21:26; Luke 18:14; Isaiah 42:15–16; Isaiah 45:2
- 5 Habakkuk 2:14; Isaiah 52:10; Joel 2:28; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Luke 3:6
- 6 Psalm 103:15–16; 1 Peter 1:24–25; Psalm 102:11; James 1:10–11; Job 14:2
- 7 Job 41:21
- 8 Mark 13:31; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25; Psalm 119:89–91; Matthew 5:18
- 9 Isaiah 52:7–8; Ephesians 6:19; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 61:1
- 10 Revelation 22:12; Isaiah 62:11; Revelation 17:14; Matthew 28:18; Isaiah 49:4
- 11 Revelation 7:17; Psalm 23:1–6; Micah 5:4; Ezekiel 34:23; John 10:11–16
- 12 Proverbs 30:4; Hebrews 1:10–12; Psalm 102:25–26; Job 38:4–11; Isaiah 48:13
- 13 1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 11:34; Job 36:22–23; Job 21:22; Luke 10:22
- 14 Job 21:22; Colossians 2:3; 1 Corinthians 12:4–6; James 1:17
- 15 Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 40:22; Job 34:14–15; Isaiah 29:5; Isaiah 11:11
- 16 Micah 6:6–7; Psalm 50:9–12; Psalm 40:6; Hebrews 10:5–10
- 17 Psalm 62:9; Daniel 4:34–35; Isaiah 29:7
- 18 Isaiah 46:5; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 40:25; Exodus 15:11; Acts 17:29
- 19 Jeremiah 10:9; Isaiah 46:6–7; Exodus 32:2–4; Habakkuk 2:18–19; Psalm 115:4–8
- 20 Jeremiah 10:3–4; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 46:7; Isaiah 2:8–9; Daniel 5:23
- 21 Isaiah 46:8; Isaiah 48:13; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:19–21; Psalm 50:6
- 22 Proverbs 8:27; Isaiah 42:5; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 66:1; Jeremiah 10:12
- 23 Psalm 107:40; Job 12:21; Jeremiah 25:18–27; Isaiah 34:12; Isaiah 24:21–22
- 24 Isaiah 41:16; Isaiah 17:13; Jeremiah 23:19; Haggai 1:9; Proverbs 1:27
- 25 Isaiah 40:18; Deuteronomy 4:15–18; Deuteronomy 4:33; Deuteronomy 5:8
- 26 Colossians 1:16–17; Jeremiah 32:17–19; Isaiah 48:13; Isaiah 51:6; Psalm 147:4–5
- 27 Isaiah 49:4; Luke 18:7–8; Isaiah 49:14; Job 27:2
- 28 Romans 11:33–34; Psalm 147:5; 1 Timothy 1:17; Isaiah 55:8–9; Philippians 1:6
- 29 Isaiah 41:10; Philippians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Colossians 1:11; Zechariah 10:12
- 30 Amos 2:14; Psalm 34:10; Psalm 33:16; Ecclesiastes 9:11; Isaiah 9:17
- 31 Lamentations 3:25–26; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Psalm 27:13–14; Psalm 103:5; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And thus He forewarns us: "Behold, the Lord [cometh], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work." He exhorts us, therefore, with our whole heart to attend to this, that we be not lazy or slothful in any good work.
Ye have heard "that the heavens are meted out in the palm of [His] hand:" tell me the measure, and recount the endless multitude of cubits, explain to me the fulness, the breadth, the length, the height, the beginning and end of the measurement,--things which the heart of man understands not, neither does it comprehend them.
Because the scroll shall be rolled together, and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever, which now appeareth unto us in the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the heavens, not as it is; because we also, although we be the well-beloved of Thy …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
Thus the prophet saith that he shall come saying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." And he himself when he was come said, "Bring forth fruits meet for repentance," which corresponds with, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Seest thou that both by the words of the prophet, and by his own preaching, this …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
For the voice is heard of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)