¹ Hãy đến, chúng ta hãy trở về cùng Ðức Giê-hô-va; vì Ngài đã xé chúng ta, song Ngài sẽ chữa lành cho; Ngài đã đánh chúng ta, song sẽ buộc vết tích.

² Trong hai ngày, Ngài sẽ khiến chúng ta tỉnh lại; ngày thứ ba, Ngài sẽ dựng chúng ta dậy, chúng ta sẽ sống trước mặt Ngài.

³ Chúng ta khá nhận biết Ðức Giê-hô-va; Chúng ta khá gắng sức nhận biết Ngài. Sự hiện ra của Ngài là chắc chắn như sự hiện ra của mặt trời sớm mai, Ngài sẽ đến cùng Chúng ta như mua, như mua cuối mùa tưới đất.

⁴ Ta sẽ làm gì cho ngươi, hỡi Ép-ra-im? Ta sẽ làm gì cho ngươi, hỡi Giu-đa? Vì lòng nhơn từ của các ngươi giống như mây buổi sáng, như móc tan ra vừa lúc sớm mai.

⁵ Vậy nên ta đã dùng các tiên tri sửa phạt chúng nó; ta đã giết chúng nó bởi lời nói từ miệng ta: những sự phán xét của ta mọc lên như ánh sáng.

⁶ Vì ta ưa sự nhơn từ và không ưa của lễ, ưa sự nhận biết Ðức Chúa Trời hơn là ưa của lễ thiêu.

⁷ Nhưng, theo cách người ta, chúng nó đã phạm lời giao ước, và ở đó chúng nó đã phỉnh dối ta.

⁸ Ga-la-át là thành của kẻ làm ác, đầy những dấu máu.

⁹ Như bọn trộm cướp rình người đi qua, thì bọn thầy tế lễ cũng giết người trên con đường đi về Si-chem, chúng nó phạm biết bao là tội ác!

¹⁰ Trong nhà Y-sơ-ra-ên, ta đã thấy một việc gớm ghiếc, ở đó Ép-ra-im thì làm sự gian dâm, Y-sơ-ra-ên thì bị ô uế!

¹¹ Hỡi Giu-đa, ngươi cũng vậy, có mùa gặt đã định cho ngươi, khi ta đem phu tù của dân ta trở về.

⁷ Phải chi các ngươi hiểu nghĩa câu nầy: Ta muốn lòng nhân từ, không muốn của tế lễ, thì các ngươi không trách những người vô tội;

¹ "Comfort, Comfort my people," says your God.

² "Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins."

³ The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

⁴ Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.

⁵ The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it."

⁶ The voice of one saying, "Cry!" One said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh's breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever."

⁹ You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don't be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or has taught him as his counselor?

¹⁴ Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

¹⁶ Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

¹⁷ All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?

¹⁹ A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.

²⁰ He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

²¹ Haven't you known? Haven't you heard, yet? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?

²² 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;

²³ who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless.

²⁴ They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

²⁵ "To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.

²⁷ Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?"

²⁸ Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹ He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.

³⁰ Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;

³¹ But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.