Isaiah 40:18-31 — Legacy Standard Bible

¹⁸^aTo whom then will you liken God?Or what likeness will you compare with Him?¹⁹As for the ^agraven images, a craftsman casts it,A goldsmith ^bplates it with gold,And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.²⁰He who is too impoverished to make such a contributionChooses a ^atree that does not rot;He seeks out for himself a wise craftsmanTo ¹prepare a graven image that ^bwill not be shaken.²¹^aDo you not know? Have you not heard?Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?Have you not understood ^bfrom the foundations of the earth?²²It is He who ¹inhabits above the ²^,^acircle of the earth,And its inhabitants are like ^bgrasshoppers;It is He who ^cstretches out the heavens like a ^dcurtainAnd spreads them out like a ^etent to inhabit.²³It is He who reduces ^arulers to nothing,Who ^bmakes the ¹judges of the earth utterly formless.²⁴¹Scarcely have they been planted;²Scarcely have they been sown;³Scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,But He merely blows on them, and they ⁴wither,And the ^astorm carries them away like stubble.²⁵“^aTo whom then will you liken MeThat I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.²⁶^aLift up your eyes on highAnd see ^bwho has created these stars,The ^cOne who leads forth their host by number,He calls them all by name;Because of the ^dgreatness of His vigor and the ¹strength of His power,^eNot one of them is missing.²⁷^aWhy do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,“My way is ^bhidden from Yahweh,And the ^cjustice due me passes by ^dmy God”?²⁸^aDo you not know? Have you not heard?The ^bEverlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth,Does not become weary or tired.His understanding is ^cunsearchable.²⁹He gives power to the ^aweary,And to him who lacks vigor He ^bincreases might.³⁰Though ^ayouths grow weary and tired,And choice ^byoung men stumble badly,³¹Yet those who hope in YahwehWill ^again new power;They will ¹^,^bmount up with ²wings like eagles;They will run and not get tired;They will walk and not become weary.