1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. (赛51:12; 路2:25)2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare[1] is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. (代下36:22; 耶25:12; 何2:14)3A voice cries:[2] “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (诗68:4; 赛57:14; 玛3:1; 太3:3; 可1:3; 路3:4; 约1:23)4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. (赛49:11; 路3:5)5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (赛1:20; 路3:6)
The Word of God Stands Forever
6A voice says, “Cry!” And I said,[3] “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty[4] is like the flower of the field. (伯14:2; 诗102:11; 诗103:15; 雅1:10; 彼前1:24)7The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.8The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (雅1:11)
The Greatness of God
9Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news;[5] lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news;[6] lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” (赛52:7)10Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. (赛59:16; 赛62:11; 路11:22; 启22:12)11He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (民11:12; 结34:23; 亚11:7; 太18:12; 路15:5; 约10:11; 约21:15; 徒20:28)12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? (箴30:4)13Who has measured[7] the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? (羅11:34; 林前2:16)14Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? (伯21:22)15Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. (赛29:5; 赛41:1)16Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. (诗50:10)17All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. (诗62:9; 赛41:12; 但4:35)18To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? (赛40:25; 赛46:5; 何13:2; 徒17:29)19An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. (赛40:18)20He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood[8] that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. (赛44:9; 赛46:6; 耶10:3)21Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? (赛40:28; 徒14:17; 羅1:19)22It 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 like a tent to dwell in; (民13:33; 伯9:8; 诗104:2)23who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. (伯12:21; 诗107:40)24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. (诗83:13; 赛41:2)25To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (赛40:18)26Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. (诗147:4)27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? (赛49:4; 赛49:14)28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. (诗121:4; 诗147:5)29He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;31but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (出19:4; 诗103:5)