Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Isaiah, chapters 40 and 41. Chapter 40 Comfort,
yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak
comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that
her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned,
for she has received from the Lord's hand double
for all her sins. The voice of one crying in
the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert, a highway for our
God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every
mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places
shall be made straight, and the rough places
smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all the flesh shall see it together. For
the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The voice said,
Cry out. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh
is grass, and all its loveliness is like the
flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower
fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon
it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers,
the flower fades, but the word of our God stands
forever. O Zion, you who bring good tidings,
get up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, you
who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with
strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the
cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the
Lord God shall come with a strong hand, and his
arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is
with him, and his work before him. He will feed
his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the
lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those who are with young, who
has measured the waters in the hollow of his
hand. Measured heaven with a span and calculated
the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the
mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as
his Counselor has taught him? With whom did he
take counsel, and who instructed him, and taught
him in the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge
and showed him the way of understanding? Behold,
the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are
counted as the small dust on the scales. Look,
he lifts up the isles as a very little thing,
and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its
beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations
before him are as nothing, and they are counted
by him less than nothing and worthless. To whom
then will you liken God, or what likeness will
you compare to him? The workman molds an image,
the goldsmith overspreads it with gold, and the
silversmith casts silver chains. Whoever is too
impoverished for such a contribution chooses
a tree that will not rot. He seeks for himself
a skillful workman to prepare a carved image
that will not totter. Have you not known? Have
you not heard? Has it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It 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 out
like a tent to dwell in. He brings the princes
to nothing, he makes the judges of the earth
useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely
shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock
take root in the earth, when he will also blow
on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind
will take them away like stubble. To whom then
will you liken me, or to whom shall I be equal,
says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high
and see who has created these things. Who brings
out their host by number, he calls them all by
name. By the greatness of his might and the strength
of his power, not one is missing. Why do you
say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? My way is
hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed
over by my God. Have you not known? Have you
not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord. The
creator of the ends of the earth neither faints
nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak, and to those who
have no might he increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on
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.
Chapter 41 Keep silence before me, O coastlands,
and let the people renew their strength. Let
them come near, then let them speak. Let us come
near together for judgment. Who raised up one
from the east? Who in righteousness called him
to his feet? Who gave the nations before him,
and made him rule over kings? Who gave them as
the dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his
bow? who pursued them and passed safely by the
way that he had not gone with his feet, who has
performed and done it, calling the generations
from the beginning. I, the Lord, am the first,
and with the last I am he. The coastlands saw
it and feared. The ends of the earth were afraid.
They drew near and came. Everyone helped his
neighbor and said to his brother, Be of good
courage. So the craftsmen encouraged the goldsmith.
He who smoothies with the hammer inspired him
who strikes the anvil, saying, It is ready for
the soldering. Then he fastened it with pegs,
that it might not totter. But you, Israel, are
my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants
of Abraham my friend, you whom I have taken from
the ends of the earth and called from its farthest
regions, and said to you, You are my servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away.
Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed,
for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes,
I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous
right hand. Behold, all those who were incensed
against you shall be ashamed and disgraced. They
shall be as nothing, and those who strive with
you shall perish. You shall seek them and not
find them. Those who contended with you, those
who war against you, shall be as nothing. As
a non -existent thing. For I, the Lord your God,
will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear
not, I will help you. Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel. I will help you, says the
Lord, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I will make you into a new threshing
sledge with sharp teeth. You shall thresh the
mountains and beat them small, and make the hills
like chaff. You shall winnow them. The wind shall
carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter
them. You shall rejoice in the Lord and glory
in the Holy One of Israel. The poor and needy
seek water, but there is none. Their tongues
fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them.
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open rivers in desolate heights and fountains
in the midst of the valleys. I will make the
wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs
of water. I will plant in the wilderness the
cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the
olive tree. I will set in the desert the cypress
tree and the pine and the box tree together,
that they may see and know and consider and understand
together that the hand of the Lord has done this
and the Holy One of Israel has created it. Present
your case, says the Lord. Bring forth your strong
reasons, says the King of Jacob. Let them bring
forth and show us what will happen. Let them
show the former things what they were, that we
may consider them, and know the latter end of
them, or declare to us things to come. Show the
things that are to come hereafter, that we may
know that you are gods. Yes, do good or do evil,
that we may be dismayed and see it together.
Indeed, you are nothing, and your work is nothing.
He who chooses you is an abomination. I have
raised up one from the north, and he shall come.
From the rising of the sun he shall call on my
name, and he shall come against princes as though
mortar, as the potter treads clay. Who has declared
from the beginning that we may know, and former
times that we may say he is righteous? Surely
there is no one who shows. Surely there is no
one who declares. Surely there is no one who
hears your words. The first time I said to Zion,
Look, there they are, and I will give to Jerusalem.
one who brings good tidings. For I looked, and
there was no man. I looked among them, but there
was no counselor, who, when I asked of them,
could answer a word. Indeed, they are all worthless.
Their works are nothing. Their molded images
are wind and confusion. I hope you enjoyed today's
reading as much as I did, and I look forward
to seeing you again tomorrow to continue on our
journey. God bless you and have a great day.