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Isaiah 40:1-26

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1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received from the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see [it]: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all its goodliness [is] as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass.
8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall shall stand forever.
9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, go up upon the high mountain: O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong [hand], and his arm will rule for him: behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd: he will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry [them] in his bosom, [and] will gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or [being] his counselor hath taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and [who] instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations [are] as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon [is] not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts of it sufficient for a burnt-offering.
17 All nations before him [are] as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare to him?
19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
20 He that [is] so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree [that] will not rot; he seeketh for himself a skillful workman to prepare a graven image [that] shall not be moved.
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 Yes, they shall not be planted; yes, they shall not be sown: yes, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equaled? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that [he] is strong in power; not one faileth.
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Isaiah 40:8 - The Word of the Lord
Isaiah 40:8

Isaiah 40:1-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 40

This chapter treats of the comforts of God's people; of the forerunner and coming of the Messiah; of his work, and the dignity of his person; of the folly of making idols, and of the groundless complaints of the church of God. The consolations of God's people, by whom to be administered, and the matter, ground, and reason of them, Isa 40:1,2. John the Baptist, the harbinger of Christ, is described by his work and office, and the effects of it; it issuing in the humiliation of some, and the exaltation of others, and in the revelation of the glory of Christ, Isa 40:3-5, then follows an order to every minister of the Gospel what he should preach and publish; the weakness and insufficiency of men to anything that is spiritually good; their fading and withering goodliness, which is to be ascribed to the blowing of the Spirit of God upon it; and the firmness and constancy of the word of God is declared, Isa 40:6-8, next the apostles of Christ in Jerusalem are particularly exhorted to publish fervently and openly the good tidings of the Gospel; to proclaim the coming of Christ, the manner of it, and the work he came about; and to signify his faithful discharge of his office as a shepherd, Isa 40:9-11, the dignity of whose person is set forth by his almighty power, by his infinite wisdom, and by the greatness of his majesty, in comparison of which all nations and things are as nothing, Isa 40:12-17 and then the vanity of framing any likeness to God, and of forming idols for worship, is observed, Isa 40:18-25, and from the consideration of the divine power in creation and upholding all things, the church of God is encouraged to expect renewed strength and persevering grace, and is blamed for giving way to a distrustful and murmuring spirit, Isa 40:26-31.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
The Webster Bible is in the public domain.