Isaiah 40

⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

¹²“I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?

³For the Lord will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

¹⁴Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!

¹⁵The Lord has taken away your punishment; He has turned back your enemy. Israel’s King, the Lord, is among you; no longer will you fear any harm.

¹³So the Lord spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

¹⁰Hear, O nations, the word of the Lord, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock.

¹¹For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him.

¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double.

⁷Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.

⁸And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me.

⁹So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.

⁶Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.

²⁵I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

¹“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts.

²As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”

³“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”

²³John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

¹⁶Many of the sons of Israel he will turn back to the Lord their God.

¹⁷And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,

⁷⁷to give to His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,

⁵Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.

²⁶This is what the Lord God says: ‘Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are: Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.

¹⁴I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹⁵I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.

¹⁶I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.

²“I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.

²⁴Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

¹⁴For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰The Lord has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

²⁸And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

⁶And all humanity will see God’s salvation.’”

¹Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass—he blooms like a flower of the field;

¹⁶when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more.

²⁴For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

²⁵but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

¹¹My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.

¹⁰But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.

¹¹For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

²Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

¹“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.

³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

²⁵but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

⁸⁹Your word, O Lord, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens.

⁹⁰Your faithfulness continues through all generations; You established the earth, and it endures.

¹⁸For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

¹¹so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

⁸Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, together they shout for joy. For every eye will see when the Lord returns to Zion.

¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel,

²Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”

⁹And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,

¹⁴Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice, and addressed the crowd: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words.

¹²“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.

¹¹Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: See, your Savior comes! Look, His reward is with Him, and His recompense goes before Him.”

¹⁴They will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will triumph over them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and He will be accompanied by His called and chosen and faithful ones.”

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God.”

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

¹⁷For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

¹A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

²He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

⁴He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

²³I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.

¹²As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.

¹³I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land.

⁴Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is the name of His Son—surely you know!

¹⁰And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

¹¹They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment.

²⁵In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

²⁶They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.

⁴Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

⁵Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?

¹³Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.

²⁶before He made the land or fields, or any of the dust of the earth.

²⁷I was there when He established the heavens, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

¹⁶“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”

²²Behold, God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him?

²³Who has appointed His way for Him, or told Him, ‘You have done wrong’?

²²Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?

²²All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

¹¹In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

²²Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?

³in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.

⁵There are different ministries, but the same Lord.

¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

¹⁰But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

²²He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

¹⁴If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,

¹⁵all flesh would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.

⁵But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

¹¹On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

⁵The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward.

⁶With what shall I come before the Lord when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?

⁷Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁹I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens,

¹⁰for every beast of the forest is Mine—the cattle on a thousand hills.

⁶Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

⁵Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.

⁶In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.

⁹Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

³⁴But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

³⁵All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

⁷All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

⁵To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?

²There is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.

²⁵“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.

¹¹Who among the gods is like You, O Lord? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

²⁹Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

⁶For who in the skies can compare with the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?

⁹Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz—the work of a craftsman from the hands of a goldsmith. Their clothes are blue and purple, all fashioned by skilled workers.

⁶They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

⁷They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

²So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”

³Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.

¹⁸What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

¹⁹Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

⁴Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

⁵They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

⁴So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.

³For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

⁴They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

⁷The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled.

⁷They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

⁸Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.

⁹So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled—do not forgive them!

²³Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

¹³The woodworker extends a measuring line; he marks it out with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He fashions it in the likeness of man, like man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.

¹⁴He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

⁸Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!

¹³Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.

¹⁷Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”

¹⁹For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

²⁰For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.

⁶And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah

²⁸Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

²⁷I was there when He established the heavens, when He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

⁵This is what God the Lord says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:

²He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,

¹This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

¹²The Lord made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹⁴Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’

⁴⁰He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

²¹He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

¹⁸to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials, his leaders, and all his people;

¹²No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.

²¹In that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.

²²They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.

¹²He breaks the spirits of princes; He is feared by the kings of the earth.

¹⁶You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹³The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.

¹⁹Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.

⁹You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the Lord of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

²⁷when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.

²¹This is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.

²²I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.’

¹⁸To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

¹⁵So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful

¹⁶that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,

³³Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?

⁸You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

¹⁶For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.

¹⁷He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

¹⁷“Oh, Lord God! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!

¹⁸You show loving devotion to thousands but lay the iniquity of the fathers into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of Hosts,

¹³Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.

⁴He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.

⁵Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.

²⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God.”

⁷Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them?

⁸I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”

²“As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—

³³O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”

⁵Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.

¹⁷Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

⁶being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

²¹Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?

¹⁰Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

¹³I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have full endurance and patience, and joyfully

¹²I will strengthen them in the Lord, and in His name they will walk,” declares the Lord.

²⁵for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”

¹⁴Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.

¹⁰Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

¹⁶No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

¹¹I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

¹⁷Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

¹⁸Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.

²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.

²⁶It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.

¹³Still I am certain to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁴Wait patiently for the Lord; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the Lord!

⁵who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.