¹⁸ With whom, then, will you compare God?^(A)
    To what image^(B) will you liken him?
¹⁹ As for an idol,^(C) a metalworker casts it,
    and a goldsmith^(D) overlays it with gold^(E)
    and fashions silver chains for it.
²⁰ A person too poor to present such an offering
    selects wood^(F) that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
    to set up an idol^(G) that will not topple.^(H)

²¹ Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?^(I)
Has it not been told^(J) you from the beginning?^(K)
    Have you not understood^(L) since the earth was founded?^(M)
22 He sits enthroned^(N) above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.^(O)
He stretches out the heavens^(P) like a canopy,^(Q)
    and spreads them out like a tent^(R) to live in.^(S)
23 He brings princes^(T) to naught
    and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.^(U)
24 No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
    no sooner do they take root^(V) in the ground,
than he blows^(W) on them and they wither,^(X)
    and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.^(Y)

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?^(Z)
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.^(AA)
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:^(AB)
    Who created^(AC) all these?
He who brings out the starry host^(AD) one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,^(AE)
    not one of them is missing.^(AF)

²⁷ Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?^(AG)
28 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?^(AH)
The Lord is the everlasting^(AI) God,
    the Creator^(AJ) of the ends of the earth.^(AK)
He will not grow tired or weary,^(AL)
    and his understanding no one can fathom.^(AM)
29 He gives strength^(AN) to the weary^(AO)
    and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men^(AP) stumble and fall;^(AQ)
31 but those who hope^(AR) in the Lord
    will renew their strength.^(AS)
They will soar on wings like eagles;^(AT)
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.^(AU)

³ “Listen^(E) to me, you descendants of Jacob,
    all the remnant^(F) of the people of Israel,
you whom I have upheld since your birth,^(G)
    and have carried^(H) since you were born.^(I)
4 Even to your old age and gray hairs^(J)
    I am he,^(K) I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
    I will sustain^(L) you and I will rescue you.

⁵ “With whom will you compare me or count me equal?
    To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?^(M)
6 Some pour out gold from their bags
    and weigh out silver on the scales;
they hire a goldsmith^(N) to make it into a god,
    and they bow down and worship it.^(O)
7 They lift it to their shoulders and carry^(P) it;
    they set it up in its place, and there it stands.
    From that spot it cannot move.^(Q)
Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer;^(R)
    it cannot save^(S) them from their troubles.