Isaiah 40

• 1. "Comfort, comfort my people," says your God.
• 2. "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her in full for all her sins."
• 3. Listen! I hear the voice of someone shouting, "Make a highway for the LORD through the wilderness. Make a straight, smooth road through the desert for our God.
• 4. Fill the valleys and level the hills. Straighten out the curves and smooth off the rough spots.
• 5. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The LORD has spoken!"
• 6. A voice said, "Shout!" I asked, "What should I shout?Shout that people are like the grass that dies away. Their beauty fades as quickly as the beauty of flowers in a field.
• 7. The grass withers, and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people.
• 8. The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever."
• 9. Messenger of good news, shout to Zion from the mountaintops! Shout louder to Jerusalem--do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, "Your God is coming!"
• 10. Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in all his glorious power. He will rule with awesome strength. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
• 11. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
• 12. Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed out the mountains and the hills?
• 13. Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to be his teacher or counselor?
• 14. Has the LORD ever needed anyone's advice? Does he need instruction about what is good or what is best?
• 15. No, for all the nations of the world are nothing in comparison with him. They are but a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales. He picks up the islands as though they had no weight at all.
• 16. All Lebanon's forests do not contain sufficient fuel to consume a sacrifice large enough to honor him. All Lebanon's sacrificial animals would not make an offering worthy of our God.
• 17. The nations of the world are as nothing to him. In his eyes they are less than nothing--mere emptiness and froth.
• 18. To whom, then, can we compare God? What image might we find to resemble him?
• 19. Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?
• 20. Or is a poor person's wooden idol better? Can God be compared to an idol that must be placed on a stand so it won't fall down?
• 21. Have you never heard or understood? Are you deaf to the words of God--the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant?
• 22. It is God who sits above the circle of the earth. The people below must seem to him like grasshoppers! He is the one who spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them.
• 23. He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing.
• 24. They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and their work withers. The wind carries them off like straw.
• 25. "To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?" asks the Holy One.
• 26. Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away.
• 27. O Israel, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case?
• 28. Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
• 29. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak.
• 30. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up.
• 31. But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 41

• 1. "Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea. Bring your strongest arguments. Come now and speak. The court is ready for your case.
• 2. "Who has stirred up this king from the east, who meets victory at every step? Who, indeed, but the LORD? He gives him victory over many nations and permits him to trample their kings underfoot. He puts entire armies to the sword. He scatters them in the wind with his bow.
• 3. He chases them away and goes on safely, though he is walking over unfamiliar ground.
• 4. Who has done such mighty deeds, directing the affairs of the human race as each new generation marches by? It is I, the LORD, the First and the Last. I alone am he."
• 5. The lands beyond the sea watch in fear. Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.
• 6. They encourage one another with the words, "Be strong!"
• 7. The craftsmen rush to make new idols. The carver hurries the goldsmith, and the molder helps at the anvil. "Good," they say. "It's coming along fine." Carefully they join the parts together, then fasten the thing in place so it won't fall over.
• 8. "But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from my friend Abraham,
• 9. I have called you back from the ends of the earth so you can serve me. For I have chosen you and will not throw you away.
• 10. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
• 11. "See, all your angry enemies lie there, confused and ashamed. Anyone who opposes you will die.
• 12. You will look for them in vain. They will all be gone!
• 13. I am holding you by your right hand--I, the LORD your God. And I say to you, `Do not be afraid. I am here to help you.
• 14. Despised though you are, O Israel, don't be afraid, for I will help you. I am the LORD, your Redeemer. I am the Holy One of Israel.'
• 15. You will be a new threshing instrument with many sharp teeth. You will tear all your enemies apart, making chaff of mountains.
• 16. You will toss them in the air, and the wind will blow them all away; a whirlwind will scatter them. And the joy of the LORD will fill you to overflowing. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
• 17. "When the poor and needy search for water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I, the LORD, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will never forsake them.
• 18. I will open up rivers for them on high plateaus. I will give them fountains of water in the valleys. In the deserts they will find pools of water. Rivers fed by springs will flow across the dry, parched ground.
• 19. I will plant trees--cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine--on barren land.
• 20. Everyone will see this miracle and understand that it is the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, who did it.
• 21. "Can your idols make such claims as these? Let them come and show what they can do!" says the LORD, the King of Israel.
• 22. "Let them try to tell us what happened long ago or what the future holds.
• 23. Yes, that's it! If you are gods, tell what will occur in the days ahead. Or perform a mighty miracle that will fill us with amazement and fear. Do something, whether good or bad!
• 24. But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all. Anyone who chooses you becomes filthy, just like you!
• 25. "But I have stirred up a leader from the north and east. He will come against the nations and call on my name, and I will give him victory over kings and princes. He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.
• 26. "Who but I have told you this would happen? Who else predicted this, making you admit that he was right? No one else said a word!
• 27. I was the first to tell Jerusalem, `Look! Help is on the way!'
• 28. Not one of your idols told you this. Not one gave any answer when I asked.
• 29. See, they are all foolish, worthless things. Your idols are all as empty as the wind.

Isaiah 42

• 1. "Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, and I am pleased with him. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will reveal justice to the nations.
• 2. He will be gentle--he will not shout or raise his voice in public.
• 3. He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope. He will bring full justice to all who have been wronged.
• 4. He will not stop until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction."
• 5. God, the LORD, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath and life to everyone in all the world. And it is he who says,
• 6. "I, the LORD, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will guard and support you, for I have given you to my people as the personal confirmation of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide all nations to me.
• 7. You will open the eyes of the blind and free the captives from prison. You will release those who sit in dark dungeons.
• 8. "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else. I will not share my praise with carved idols.
• 9. Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens."
• 10. Sing a new song to the LORD! Sing his praises from the ends of the earth! Sing, all you who sail the seas, all you who live in distant coastlands.
• 11. Join in the chorus, you desert towns; let the villages of Kedar rejoice! Let the people of Sela sing for joy; shout praises from the mountaintops!
• 12. Let the coastlands glorify the LORD; let them sing his praise.
• 13. The LORD will march forth like a mighty man; he will come out like a warrior, full of fury. He will shout his thundering battle cry, and he will crush all his enemies.
• 14. He will say, "I have long been silent; yes, I have restrained myself. But now I will give full vent to my fury; I will gasp and pant like a woman giving birth.
• 15. I will level the mountains and hills and bring a blight on all their greenery. I will turn the rivers into dry land and will dry up all the pools.
• 16. I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will make the darkness bright before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes, I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them.
• 17. But those who trust in idols, calling them their gods--they will be turned away in shame.
• 18. "Oh, how deaf and blind you are toward me! Why won't you listen? Why do you refuse to see?
• 19. Who in all the world is as blind as my own people, my servant? Who is as deaf as my messengers? Who is as blind as my chosen people, the servant of the LORD?
• 20. You see and understand what is right but refuse to act on it. You hear, but you don't really listen."
• 21. The LORD has magnified his law and made it truly glorious. Through it he had planned to show the world that he is righteous.
• 22. But what a sight his people are, for they have been robbed, enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped. They are fair game for all and have no one to protect them.
• 23. Will not even one of you apply these lessons from the past and see the ruin that awaits you?
• 24. Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt? Was it not the LORD? It was the LORD whom we sinned against, for the people would not go where he sent them, nor would they obey his law.
• 25. That is why he poured out such fury on them and destroyed them in battle. They were set on fire and burned, but they still refused to understand.

New Living Translation: 250 of 324 days.