1 Give comfort, give comfort to My people {ammi: covenant community}, says Your God {Eloheikhem, Divine Redeemer}.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her service has been completed, that her iniquity has been pardoned, for she has received from the hand of the LORD {YHWH, Compassionate Restorer} double for all her sins {chatoteyha: moral failings}.
3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare {panu: clear, make ready} the way of the LORD {YHWH, Promise Fulfiller}; make straight in the desert plain a highway {mesilah: raised road} for our God {Eloheinu, Deliverer}.”
4 Every valley {gei: depression or hollow land} shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; the crooked will become a plain {mishor: level ground}, and the ridges will become a valley.
5 Then the glory of the LORD {YHWH, Majestic Revealer} will be made known, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth {pi: divine authority} of the LORD has spoken.
6 A voice {qol: prophetic herald} says, “Cry out!” And he said, “What shall I cry out?” All flesh is grass, and all its splendor {khasdo: what seems impressive in people} is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flower fades because the breath of the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Blower} has blown on it; surely the people are grass {hatsir: fragile and fleeting}.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God {Eloheinu, Covenant Sustainer} remains standing forever {leolam: to all ages}.
9 Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald {mevaseret: bearer of joyful tidings} of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God {Eloheikhem, Majestic Revealer}!”
10 Behold, the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Sovereign King} is coming with strength, and His arm {zeroa: enforcing rule} is ruling for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense is before Him.
11 Like a shepherd, He {YHWH, Compassionate Shepherd} will tend His flock; with His arm {zeroa‘: symbol of power}, He will gather the lambs; in His bosom, He will carry them; the ones with young, He will gently lead.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His {YHWH, Sovereign Sustainer} hand and marked off the heavens with a span {zeret: handspan}? Who has contained the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains and the hills on a scale?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Wisdom Source}, or who, as His counselor {atsa: deliberate plan}, has instructed Him?
14 With whom did He {Elohim, All-Wise Advisor} consult, and who gave Him understanding, and who taught Him in the path of judgment {mishpat: just decision}, and who instructed Him in knowledge, and who made known to Him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are counted as fine dust on the scales. Behold, He {YHWH, Sovereign Ruler} lifts the coastlands {iyim: distant regions} as fine dust.
16 And Lebanon {lebanon: cedar land} is not sufficient for burning, and its beasts {chayato: sacrificial stock} are not sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are like nothing {ayin: absolute void} before Him {YHWH: Supreme Judge}; they are accounted by Him as less than nothing and emptiness.
18 And to whom will you liken God {El, Unmatched Sovereign}? Or what likeness {demut: shape or form} will you compare to Him?
19 A craftsman casts the idol {happesel: carved image}, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains {urtekot: metal loops}.
20 The one who is too poor for an offering {terumah: sacred gift} selects wood that will not rot; he seeks a skillful {chacham: wise expert} craftsman to set up an idol that will not be moved.
21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you from the beginning {merosh: ancient origin}? Have you not understood the foundations {mosdot: structural bases} of the earth?
22 The One who sits upon the circle {chug: encompassing horizon} of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; the One who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent {ohel: portable dwelling} to dwell in.
23 He {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} brings princes to nothing and makes the judges of the earth like chaos {tohu: primeval emptiness}.
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown, scarcely does their stem {gizʻam: fragile trunk} take root in the earth—He {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} blows upon them, and they wither, and the storm will carry them away like stubble.
25 “And to whom will you liken {damah: establish resemblance} Me, or make Me equal?” says the Holy One {qadosh: transcendent Sovereign}.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these—the one who brings out their host by number; He {YHWH, Creator Sovereign} calls them all by name because of His abundant might {onim: strength} and mighty power. Not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD {YHWH, Faithful Overseer}, and my right is disregarded by my God {Elohai, Righteous Judge}?”
28 Have you not known? Or have you not heard? The God {Elohei olam, Eternal Ruler} of eternity— the LORD {YHWH, Unfailing Strength}—the Creator of the ends of the earth: He does not become faint, and He does not become weary; there is no searching out of His understanding.
29 He {YHWH, Renewing Sustainer} gives strength to the weary, and increases power for those who lack might {onim: absence of strength}.
30 Even youths {ne'arim: young people in their prime} will faint and be weary, and young men will utterly stumble {kashol: to trip, falter}.
31 But those who wait for the LORD {YHWH, Strength Renewer} will renew their vitality; they will ascend on the wings of eagles; they will run and not grow weary {yigau: lose vigor}; they will walk and not faint.