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Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40 grounds comfort for weary Israel in the enduring word, unmatched power, and tender care of its God.

Jerusalem receives an announcement of comfort: her warfare is ended and her iniquity pardoned. Unnamed voices call for a highway through the wilderness and proclaim that God’s word endures while human life fades. YHWH comes with a ruler’s strength and a shepherd’s care. The prophet then contrasts the Creator with idols and earthly rulers. Addressing Israel’s complaint that God disregards its cause, he declares that the everlasting God gives strength to the weak.

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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 the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”
3The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
4Every 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.
5The LORD’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.”
6The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades, because the LORD’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
9You 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!”
10Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11He 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.
12Who 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 measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13Who has directed the LORD’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
14Who 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?
15Behold, 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.
16Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
21Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It 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,
23who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24They 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.
26Lift 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.
27Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?
28Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
31but those who wait for the LORD 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.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Isaiah 40:11The arm that rules in strength also gathers lambs, joining God’s sovereign power to his care for vulnerable people.
Isaiah 40:29God answers Israel’s sense of being overlooked by declaring that his inexhaustible strength reaches those who have none.
Isaiah 40:31The closing promise places renewed strength in dependence on YHWH, after acknowledging that even the young reach their limits.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew, Luke, and John connect the wilderness voice with John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, taking up Isaiah’s announcement of YHWH’s coming. Romans quotes Isaiah’s question about who has counseled the Lord, sharing this chapter’s declaration that God’s wisdom depends on no teacher.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which image of God in this chapter most challenges how you understand his power or care?

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How does Israel’s complaint in verse 27 compare with what you want to bring before God?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 40

What does it mean to wait for YHWH in Isaiah 40:31?

Waiting here means looking to YHWH with trust and hope for strength. The promise answers Israel’s complaint that God has disregarded its cause. The images of soaring, running, and walking describe renewed endurance. The verse gives no timetable for relief or promise that hardship will end at once.

Who is the voice in the wilderness in Isaiah 40:3?

Isaiah 40 does not name the voice. It announces preparations for YHWH’s arrival, pictured as a highway through the wilderness with obstacles removed. Matthew, Luke, and John identify John the Baptist with this voice as he prepares the way for Jesus. That identification develops the announcement’s place in Scripture.

What does receiving double for sins mean in Isaiah 40:2?

The phrase describes Jerusalem’s punishment alongside the announcement that her warfare is over and her iniquity pardoned. The precise force of double is debated: it may emphasize abundant punishment or a full recompense corresponding to her sins. The verse’s clear emphasis is that judgment has reached its end and comfort is announced.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).