Targum Isaiah

1O ye prophets, prophesy comforts to my people, saith your God.

2Speak ye comfortably, to Jerusalem, and prophesy concerning her, that she shall be filled with the people of the captivity, because her sins are forgiven, for she hath received the cup of consolations from the Lord, as if she had been smitten twice for all her sins.

3A voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way before the people of the Lord; cast up a highway in the plain before the congregation of our God.

4All the valleys shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the rugged way shall be a level, and the hilly ground a valley.

5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the sons of flesh shall see together, that by the WORD of the Lord it has been decreed thus.

6The voice of one crying, Prophesy! He answered and said, What shall I prophesy? All the wicked are as grass, and all their strength as chaff of the field.

7The grass withereth, its flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the wicked among a people are considered like grass.

8The wicked dieth, and his thoughts perish; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

9Upon a high mountain get up, ye prophets, that bring good tidings unto Zion; lift ye up your voice with strength that bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of the house of Judah, The kingdom of your God is revealed.

10Behold, the Lord God shall be revealed, and the strength of the arm of His might shall rule before Him: behold, the reward of those who perform His word is with Him, because their works are manifest to Him.

11He shall feed those that are of His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and He shall carry the tender ones in His bosom; He shall lead gently those that give suck.

12He who hath promised these things, shall confirm them: He hath spoken it, and He will do it; He in whose sight all the waters of the world are accounted as a drop in the hollow of the hand, and the expansion of the heavens as if they had been prepared with the span; and the dust of the earth as if measured in a measure, and the mountains as if weighed in scales, and the hills in a balance.

13Who hath directed the Holy Spirit in the mouth of all the prophets? Is it not the Lord? He maketh known the words of His will to the righteous, the servants of His WORD.

14I will make known wisdom to them who pray for it from Him, and I will teach them the way of justice; yea, He will give the law to their sons, and He will make known to their sons' sons the path of understanding.

15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, the isles are as fine dust that flieth away.

16And the trees of Lebanon are not sufficient for fire, nor the beasts in it sufficient for a holocaust.

17All nations are as nothing, their works are accounted before Him as naught.

18And whom do you think able to contend with God? and what is the likeness that ye can compare with Him?

19Behold, the artificer maketh an image, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and with silver chains the silversmith fasteneth it.

20He cuts a wild ash of the forest, which rottenness will seize; he procures a skilful artist to fix the image, that it be not moved.

21Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath not the work in the creation been declared unto you in its order from the beginning? Have ye not understood that ye ought to fear Him, who hath created the foundations of the earth?

22Who maketh the Shekinah of His glory to dwell in exalted strength, and all the inhabitants of the earth are in His estimation as locusts; He that stretched out the heavens as a little thing, and spreadeth them out as the tent of the glory of the house of the Shekinah.

23Who gives princes over to weakness; the judges of the earth He bringeth to naught.

24Although they multiply, although they increase, although their children become great in the earth, yet, nevertheless, He will send His wrath among them, and they shall be confounded: and His WORD shall scatter them, as the whirlwind the chaff.

25To whom, then, will ye liken me? and to whom will ye equal me? saith the Holy One.

26Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, that ye may fear Him, who hath created these things, who bringeth forth the host of the heavens by number: He calleth them all by their name: on account of the combination of forces and might of power, not one is hindered in its orb.

27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my cause is removed from my God?

28Hast thou not known? yea, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord who hath created the foundations of the earth, is not fatigued, neither is weary? there is no end to His wisdom.

29Who giveth wisdom to the righteous that long for the words of the law; and to those who have no strength, he multiplieth strength.

30And the wicked youths shall be fatigued and shall be weary; and the impious young men shall utterly fall.

31But they that hope for the salvation of the Lord shall be gathered together from the midst of their captivity, and shall increase their strength, and their youth shall be renewed like the sprout that springeth up: they shall hasten upon the wings of eagles, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.