Read the Bible

"Encourage my people!
    Give them comfort.
² Speak kindly to Jerusalem
    and announce:
Your slavery is past;
    your punishment is over.
I, the Lord, made you pay
    double for your sins."

³ Someone is shouting:
"Clear a path in the desert!
    Make a straight road
    for the Lord our God.
⁴ Fill in the valleys;
flatten every hill
    and mountain.
Level the rough
    and rugged ground.
⁵ Then the glory of the Lord
    will appear for all to see.
The Lord has promised this!"

⁶ Someone told me to shout,
and I asked,
    "What should I shout?"
We humans are merely grass,
and we last no longer
    than wild flowers.
⁷ At the Lord's command,
flowers and grass disappear,
    and so do we.
⁸ Flowers and grass fade away,
but what our God has said
    will never change.

⁹ There is good news
    for the city of Zion.
Shout it as loud as you can^[a]
    from the highest mountain.
Don't be afraid to shout
to the towns of Judah,
    "Your God is here!"
¹⁰ Look! The powerful Lord God
is coming
to rule
    with his mighty arm.
He brings with him
what he has taken in war,
    and he rewards his people.
¹¹ The Lord cares for his nation,
just as shepherds care
    for their flocks.
He carries the lambs
    in his arms,
while gently leading
    the mother sheep.

¹² Did any of you measure
    the ocean by yourself
or stretch out the sky
    with your own hands?
Did you put the soil
    of the earth in a bucket
or weigh the hills and mountains
    on balance scales?

¹³ Has anyone told the Lord^[b]
what he must do
    or given him advice?
¹⁴ Did the Lord ask anyone
to teach him wisdom
    and justice?
Who gave him knowledge
    and understanding?
¹⁵ To the Lord, all nations
are merely a drop in a bucket
    or dust on balance scales;
all of the islands
    are but a handful of sand.
¹⁶ The cattle
    on Lebanon's mountains
would not be enough
to offer
    as a sacrifice to God,
and the trees would not
    be enough for the fire.
¹⁷ God thinks of the nations
    as far less than nothing.

¹⁸ Who compares with God?
    Is anything like him?
¹⁹ Is an idol at all like God?
    It is made of bronze
with a thin layer of gold,
    and decorated with silver.
²⁰ Or special wood may be chosen^[c]
    because it doesn't rot—
then skilled hands
take care to make an idol
    that won't fall on its face.

²¹ Don't you know?
    Haven't you heard?
Isn't it clear that God
    created the world?^[d]
22 God is the one who rules
    the whole earth,
and we that live here
    are merely insects.
He spread out the heavens
like a curtain or an open tent.

²³ God brings down rulers
    and turns them into nothing.
²⁴ They are like flowers
freshly sprung up
    and starting to grow.
But when God blows on them,
they wilt
and are carried off
    like straw in a storm.

²⁵ The holy God asks,
"Who compares with me?
    Is anyone my equal?"

²⁶ Look at the evening sky!
    Who created the stars?
Who gave them each a name?
    Who leads them like an army?
The Lord is so powerful
that none of the stars
    are ever missing.

²⁷ You people of Israel, say,
"God pays no attention to us!
    He doesn't care if we
    are treated unjustly."

But how can you say that?
²⁸ Don't you know?
    Haven't you heard?
The Lord is the eternal God,
    Creator of the earth.
He never gets weary or tired;
his wisdom cannot be measured.

²⁹ The Lord gives strength
    to those who are weary.
³⁰ Even young people get tired,
    then stumble and fall.
³¹ But those who trust the Lord
    will find new strength.
They will be strong like eagles
    soaring upward on wings;
they will walk and run
    without getting tired.