top Isaiah ch 40
Greek: Septuagint (LXX)
English: John Barach
Chapter 40
The Voice of Consolation
1 παρακαλεῖτε παρακαλεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου, λέγει ὁ θεός. 2 ἱερεῖς, λαλήσατε εἰς τὴν καρδίαν Ἱερουσαλήμ, παρακαλέσατε αὐτήν· ὅτι ἐπλήσθη ἡ ταπείνωσις αὐτῆς, λέλυται αὐτῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία· ὅτι ἐδέξατο ἐκ χειρὸς κυρίου διπλᾶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῆς. 1 Comfort, comfort my people, says God. 2 Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her! For her humiliation is filled, her sin is loosed; for she has received from the hand of the Lord double for her sins.
3 φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν· 4 πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται, καὶ ἔσται πάντα τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν καὶ ἡ τραχεῖα εἰς πεδία· 5 καὶ ὀφθήσεται ἡ δόξα κυρίου, καὶ ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ· ὅτι κύριος ἐλάλησεν. 3 A voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God! 4 Every ravine shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be humbled; and all the crooked ways shall become a straight path, and the rough [way] into plains. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God; for the Lord has spoken."
6 φωνὴ λέγοντος βόησον· καὶ εἶπα τί βοήσω; πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου· 7 ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσεν, 8 τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. 6 A voice of one saying, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass. 7 The grass withered, and the flower fell away, 8 but the word of our God remains forever.
The Incomparable Creator
9 ἐπ' ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάβηθι, ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Σιών· ὕψωσον τῇ ἰσχύϊ τὴν φωνήν σου, ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Ἱερουσαλήμ· ὑψώσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε· εἰπὸν ταῖς πόλεσιν Ἰούδα ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν. 10 ἰδοὺ κύριος μετὰ ἰσχύος ἔρχεται καὶ ὁ βραχίων μετὰ κυριείας, ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς αὐτοῦ μετ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ. 11 ὡς ποιμὴν ποιμανεῖ τὸ ποίμνιον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ βραχίονι αὐτοῦ συνάξει ἄρνας καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσας παρακαλέσει. 9 Ascend upon a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem! Lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" 10 Behold, the Lord comes with strength, and His arm with sovereign power; behold, His reward is with Him and His work is before Him. 11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, and with His arm He will gather the lambs, and those who are with child He will comfort.
12 τίς ἐμέτρησεν τῇ χειρὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί; τίς ἔστησεν τὰ ὄρη σταθμῷ καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ; 13 τίς ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου, καὶ τίς αὐτοῦ σύμβουλος ἐγένετο, ὃς συμβιβᾷ αὐτόν; 14 ἢ πρὸς τίνα συνεβουλεύσατο καὶ συνεβίβασεν αὐτόν; ἢ τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ κρίσιν; ἢ ὁδὸν συνέσεως τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ; 15 εἰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὡς σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου καὶ ὡς ῥοπὴ ζυγοῦ ἐλογίσθησαν, καὶ ὡς σίελος λογισθήσονται· 16 ὁ δὲ Λίβανος οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἰς καῦσιν, καὶ πάντα τὰ τετράποδα οὐχ ἱκανὰ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν, 17 καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὡς οὐδέν εἰσι καὶ εἰς οὐθὲν ἐλογίσθησαν. 12 Who has measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth with a handful? Who has set the mountains with a scale and the glens with a balance? 13 Who has known the mind of the Lord, and who became His counselor, so as to instruct Him? 14 Or with whom did He take counsel and [who] instructed Him? Or who showed Him judgment? Or who showed Him the way of understanding? 15 If all the nations are as a drop from a bucket and are accounted as a tilt of a balance, they shall also be accounted as spittle. 16 Lebanon is not enough for burning, and all the four-footed animals are not enough for a whole burnt offering; 17 and all the nations are as nothing, and they were accounted as nothingness.
The Vanity of Idols and the Sovereignty of God
18 τίνι ὡμοιώσατε κύριον καὶ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν; 19 μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησεν τέκτων, ἢ χρυσοχόος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτόν, ὁμοίωμα κατεσκεύασεν αὐτόν; 20 ξύλον γὰρ ἄσηπτον ἐκλέγεται τέκτων καὶ σοφῶς ζητεῖ πῶς στήσει αὐτοῦ εἰκόνα καὶ ἵνα μὴ σαλεύηται. 21 οὐ γνώσεσθε; οὐκ ἀκούσεσθε; οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑμῖν; οὐκ ἔγνωτε τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς; 18 To whom have you likened the Lord, and to what likeness have you compared Him? 19 Has a craftsman made an image, or a goldsmith, having melted gold, gilded it over, [and] fashioned it as a likeness? 20 For a craftsman chooses rot-resistant wood and wisely seeks how he may set up his image so that it may not be shaken. 21 Will you not know? Will you not hear? Has it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the earth?
22 ὁ κατέχων τὸν γῦρον τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ ὡς ἀκρίδες, ὁ στήσας ὡς καμάραν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖν, 23 ὁ διδοὺς ἄρχοντας εἰς οὐδὲν ἄρχειν, τὴν δὲ γῆν ὡς οὐδὲν ἐποίησεν. 24 οὐ γὰρ μὴ σπείρωσιν οὐδὲ μὴ φυτεύσωσιν, οὐδὲ μὴ ῥιζωθῇ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἡ ῥίζα αὐτῶν· ἔπνευσεν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐξηράνθησαν, καὶ καταιγὶς ὡς φρύγανα ἀναλήμψεται αὐτούς. 22 [It is] He who holds the circle of the earth, and those dwelling in it are like grasshoppers; He who set up the heaven like a vaulted chamber and stretched it out like a tent to dwell in; 23 He who gives rulers over to nothingness to rule, and made the earth as nothing. 24 For they shall by no means sow, nor shall they by no means plant, nor shall their root be by no means rooted into the earth; He breathed upon them and they withered, and a whirlwind shall take them up like brushwood.
Renewal for the Faint
25 νῦν οὖν τίνι με ὡμοιώσατε καὶ ὑψωθήσομαι; εἶπεν ὁ ἅγιος. 26 ἀναβλέψατε εἰς ὕψος τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν καὶ ἴδετε· τίς κατέδειξεν πάντα ταῦτα; ὁ ἐκφέρων κατὰ ἀριθμὸν τὸν κόσμον αὐτοῦ πάντας ἐπ' ὀνόματι καλέσει· ἀπὸ πολλῆς δόξης καὶ ἐν κράτει ἰσχύος οὐδέν σὲ ἔλαθεν. 25 "Now then, to whom have you likened Me, and [to whom] shall I be exalted?" said the Holy One. 26 Look up to the height with your eyes and see: Who displayed all these things? He who brings out His host by number, He shall call them all by name; by [His] great glory and in the power of His strength, nothing has escaped You.
27 μὴ γὰρ εἴπῃς, Ἰακώβ, καὶ τί ἐλάλησας, Ἰσραὴλ ἀπεκρύβη ἡ ὁδός μου ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ θεός μου τὴν κρίσιν ἀφεῖλεν καὶ ἀπέστη; 28 καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἔγνως εἰ μὴ ἤκουσας; θεὸς αἰώνιος ὁ θεὸς ὁ κατασκευάσας τὰ ἄκρα τῆς γῆς, οὐ πεινάσει οὐδὲ κοπιάσει, οὐδὲ ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ· 29 διδοὺς τοῖς πεινῶσιν ἰσχὺν καὶ τοῖς μὴ ὀδυνωμένοις λύπην. 30 πεινάσουσιν γὰρ νεώτεροι, καὶ κοπιάσουσιν νεανίσκοι, καὶ ἐκλεκτοὶ ἀνίσχυες ἔσονται· 31 οἱ δὲ ὑπομένοντες τὸν θεὸν ἀλλάξουσιν ἰσχύν, πτεροφυήσουσιν ὡς ἀετοί, δραμοῦνται καὶ οὐ κοπιάσουσιν, βαδιοῦνται καὶ οὐ πεινάσουσιν. 27 For do not say, O Jacob—and why did you speak, O Israel?—"My way is hidden from God, and my God has taken away judgment and departed"? 28 And now, have you not known? Have you not heard? The eternal God, the God who fashioned the ends of the earth, will not hunger nor grow weary, nor is there a searching out of His wisdom; 29 giving strength to the hungry and grief to those not in pain. 30 For the young shall hunger and the youths shall grow weary, and the chosen ones shall be powerless; 31 but those who wait for God shall change [their] strength; they shall grow wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not hunger.