Isaiah

¹ says your God.

² but also make it very clear That she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of—forgiven! She's been punished enough and more than enough, and now it's over and done with."

³ "Prepare for God's arrival! Make the road straight and smooth, a highway fit for our God.

⁴ level off the hills, Smooth out the ruts, clear out the rocks.

⁵ and everyone will see it. Yes. Just as God has said."

⁶ I said, "What shall I shout?" "These people are nothing but grass, their love fragile as wildflowers.

⁷ if God so much as puffs on them. Aren't these people just so much grass?

⁸ but our God's Word stands firm and forever."

⁹ You're the preacher of good news. Raise your voice. Make it good and loud, Jerusalem. You're the preacher of good news. Speak loud and clear. Don't be timid! Tell the cities of Judah, "Look! Your God!"

¹⁰ ready to go into action. He is going to pay back his enemies and reward those who have loved him.

¹¹ gathering the lambs in his arms, Hugging them as he carries them, leading the nursing ewes to good pasture.

¹² in his two hands, or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger, Who has put all the earth's dirt in one of his baskets, weighed each mountain and hill?

¹³ or taught him his business?

¹⁴ what school would he attend to learn justice? What god do you suppose might have taught him what he knows, showed him how things work?

¹⁵ a mere smudge on a window. Watch him sweep up the islands like so much dust off the floor!

¹⁶ nor enough animals in those vast forests to furnish adequate fuel and offerings for his worship.

¹⁷ less than nothing is more like it. A minus.

¹⁸ To whom or what can you compare him?

¹⁹ It's made in a workshop, cast in bronze, Given a thin veneer of gold, and draped with silver filigree.

²⁰ olive wood, say—that won't rot, Then hire a woodcarver to make a no-god, giving special care to its base so it won't tip over!

²¹ Have you not been listening? Haven't you heard these stories all your life? Don't you understand the foundation of all things?

²² The people look like mere ants. He stretches out the skies like a canvas— yes, like a tent canvas to live under.

²³ The rulers of the earth count for nothing.

²⁴ Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted, They shrivel when God blows on them. Like flecks of chaff, they're gone with the wind.

²⁵ Who holds a candle to me?" says The Holy.

²⁶ Who do you think made all this? Who marches this army of stars out each night, counts them off, calls each by name —so magnificent! so powerful!— and never overlooks a single one?

²⁷ or, whine, Israel, saying, "God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"?

²⁸ God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out.

²⁹ gives fresh strength to dropouts.

³⁰ young folk in their prime stumble and fall.

³¹ They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind.