8. The grass withers, the flower wilts,but the word of our God stands forever.”
9. Go up onto a high mountain,Zion, herald of good news!Cry out at the top of your voice,Jerusalem, herald of good news!Cry out, do not fear!Say to the cities of Judah:Here is your God!
10. Here comes with powerthe Lord God,who rules by his strong arm;Here is his reward with him,his recompense before him.
11. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;in his arms he gathers the lambs,Carrying them in his bosom,leading the ewes with care.
12. Who has measured with his palm the waters,marked off the heavens with a span,held in his fingers the dust of the earth,weighed the mountains in scalesand the hills in a balance?
13. Who has directed the spirit of the Lord,or instructed him as his counselor?
14. Whom did he consult to gain knowledge?Who taught him the path of judgment,or showed him the way of understanding?
15. See, the nations count as a drop in the bucket,as a wisp of cloud on the scales;the coastlands weigh no more than a speck.
16. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,nor its animals be enough for burnt offerings.
17. Before him all the nations are as nought,as nothing and void he counts them.
18. To whom can you liken God?With what likeness can you confront him?
19. An idol? An artisan casts it,the smith plates it with gold,fits it with silver chains.
20. Is mulberry wood the offering?A skilled artisan picks outa wood that will not rot,Seeks to set up for himselfan idol that will not totter.
21. Do you not know? Have you not heard?Was it not told you from the beginning?Have you not understood from the founding of the earth?
22. The one who is enthroned above the vault of the earth,its inhabitants like grasshoppers,Who stretches out the heavens like a veiland spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
23. Who brings princes to noughtand makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,scarcely their stem rooted in the earth,When he breathes upon them and they wither,and the stormwind carries them away like straw.
25. To whom can you liken me as an equal?says the Holy One.
26. Lift up your eyes on highand see who created these:He leads out their army and numbers them,calling them all by name.By his great might and the strength of his powernot one of them is missing!
27. Why, O Jacob, do you say,and declare, O Israel,“My way is hidden from the Lord,and my right is disregarded by my God”?