153 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
153 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
Comfort for God's People
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# Chapter 40
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1. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
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2. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
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and cry to her
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that her warfare is ended,
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that her iniquity is pardoned,
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that she has received from the LORD's hand
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double for all her sins.
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3. A voice cries:
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"In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
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make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
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4. Every valley shall be lifted up,
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and every mountain and hill be made low;
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the uneven ground shall become level,
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and the rough places a plain.
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5. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
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and all flesh shall see it together,
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for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
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The Word of God Stands Forever
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6. A voice says, "Cry!"
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And I said, "What shall I cry?"
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All flesh is grass,
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and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
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7. The grass withers, the flower fades
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when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
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surely the people are grass.
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8. The grass withers, the flower fades,
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but the word of our God will stand forever.
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The Greatness of God
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9. Go on up to a high mountain,
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O Zion, herald of good news;
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lift up your voice with strength,
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O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
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lift it up, fear not;
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say to the cities of Judah,
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"Behold your God!"
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10. Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
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and his arm rules for him;
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behold, his reward is with him,
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and his recompense before him.
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11. He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
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he will gather the lambs in his arms;
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he will carry them in his bosom,
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and gently lead those that are with young.
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12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
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and marked off the heavens with a span,
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enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
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and weighed the mountains in scales
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and the hills in a balance?
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13. Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,
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or what man shows him his counsel?
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14. Whom did he consult,
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and who made him understand?
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Who taught him the path of justice,
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and taught him knowledge,
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and showed him the way of understanding?
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15. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
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and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
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behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
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16. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
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nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
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17. All the nations are as nothing before him,
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they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
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18. To whom then will you liken God,
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or what likeness compare with him?
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19. An idol! A craftsman casts it,
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and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
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and casts for it silver chains.
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20. He who is too impoverished for an offering
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chooses wood that will not rot;
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he seeks out a skillful craftsman
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to set up an idol that will not move.
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21. Do you not know? Do you not hear?
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Has it not been told you from the beginning?
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Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
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22. It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
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and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
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who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
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and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
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23. who brings princes to nothing,
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and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
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24. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
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scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
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when he blows on them, and they wither,
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and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
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25. To whom then will you compare me,
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that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
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26. Lift up your eyes on high and see:
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who created these?
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He who brings out their host by number,
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calling them all by name;
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by the greatness of his might
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and because he is strong in power,
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not one is missing.
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27. Why do you say, O Jacob,
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and speak, O Israel,
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"My way is hidden from the LORD,
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and my right is disregarded by my God"?
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28. Have you not known? Have you not heard?
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The LORD is the everlasting God,
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the Creator of the ends of the earth.
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He does not faint or grow weary;
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his understanding is unsearchable.
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29. He gives power to the faint,
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and to him who has no might he increases strength.
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30. Even youths shall faint and be weary,
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and young men shall fall exhausted;
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31. but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
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they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
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they shall run and not be weary;
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they shall walk and not faint.
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