Isaiah 40:1-26

The Greatness of God

1 "¹Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God.

2 "²Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her ³warfare has ended, That her ⁴iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD'S hand ⁵Double for all her sins."

3 ⁶A voice is calling, "⁷Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

4 "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

5 Then the ⁸glory of the LORD will be revealed, And ⁹all flesh will see it together; For the ¹⁰mouth of the LORD has spoken."

6 A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" ¹¹All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

7 The ¹²grass withers, the flower fades, When the ¹³breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But ¹⁴the word of our God stands forever.

9 Get yourself up on a ¹⁵high mountain, O Zion, bearer of ¹⁶good news, Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the ¹⁷cities of Judah, "¹⁸Here is your God!"

10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come ¹⁹with might, With His ²⁰arm ruling for Him. Behold, His ²¹reward is with Him And His recompense before Him.

11 Like a shepherd He will ²²tend His flock, In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

12 Who has ²³measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, And marked off the heavens by the span, And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, And weighed the mountains in a balance And the hills in a pair of scales?

13 ²⁴Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His ²⁵counselor * has informed Him?

14 ²⁶With whom did He consult and who ²⁷gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the ²⁸nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of ²⁹dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, Nor its ³⁰beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 ³¹All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

18 ³²To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

19 As for the ³³idol, a craftsman casts it, A goldsmith ³⁴plates it with gold, And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering Selects a ³⁵tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman To prepare an idol that ³⁶will not totter.

21 ³⁷Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood ³⁸from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is He who sits above the ³⁹circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like ⁴⁰grasshoppers, Who ⁴¹stretches out the heavens like a ⁴²curtain And spreads them out like a ⁴³tent to dwell in.

23 He it is who reduces ⁴⁴rulers to nothing, Who ⁴⁵makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

24 Scarcely * have they been planted, Scarcely * have they been sown, Scarcely * has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the ⁴⁶storm carries them away like stubble.

25 "⁴⁷To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One.

26 ⁴⁸Lift up your eyes on high And see ⁴⁹who has created these stars, The ⁵⁰One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the ⁵¹greatness of His might and the strength of His power, ⁵²Not one of them is missing.

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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

Cross References 52

1. Isaiah 12:1; Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 51:3, 12; Isaiah 52:9; Isaiah 61:2; Isaiah 66:13; Jeremiah 31:10-14; Zephaniah 3:14-17; 2 Corinthians 1:4
2. Isaiah 35:4; Zechariah 1:13
3. Isaiah 41:11-13; Isaiah 49:25; Isaiah 54:15, 17
4. Isaiah 33:24; Isaiah 53:5, 6, 11
5. Jeremiah 16:18; Zechariah 9:12; Revelation 18:6
6. Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4-6; John 1:23
7. Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:5, 6
8. Isaiah 6:3; Habakkuk 2:14
9. Isaiah 52:10; Joel 2:28
10. Isaiah 1:20; Isaiah 34:16; Isaiah 58:14
11. Job 14:2; Psalms 102:11; Psalms 103:15; 1 Peter 1:24, 25
12. Psalms 90:5, 6; James 1:10, 11
13. Job 4:9; Job 41:21; Isaiah 11:4; Isaiah 40:24
14. Isaiah 55:11; Isaiah 59:21; Matthew 5:18
15. Isaiah 52:7
16. Isaiah 61:1
17. Isaiah 44:26
18. Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 35:2
19. Isaiah 9:6, 7
20. Isaiah 59:16, 18
21. Isaiah 62:11; Revelation 22:12
22. Jeremiah 31:10; Ezek 34:12-14, 23, 31; Micah 5:4; John 10:11, 14-16
23. Job 38:8-11; Psalms 102:25, 26; Isaiah 48:13; Hebrews 1:10-12
24. Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16
25. Isaiah 41:28
26. Job 38:4
27. Job 21:22; Colossians 2:3
28. Jeremiah 10:10
29. Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 29:5
30. Psalms 50:9-11; Micah 6:6, 7; Hebrews 10:5-9
31. Isaiah 29:7
32. Exodus 8:10; Exodus 15:11; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 40:25; Isaiah 46:5; Micah 7:18; Acts 17:29
33. Psalms 115:4-8; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 44:10; Habakkuk 2:18, 19
34. Isaiah 2:20; Isaiah 30:22
35. Isaiah 44:14
36. 1 Samuel 5:3, 4; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 46:7
37. Psalms 19:1; Psalms 50:6; Isaiah 37:26; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:19
38. Isaiah 48:13; Isaiah 51:13
39. Job 22:14; Proverbs 8:27
40. Numbers 13:33
41. Job 9:8; Isaiah 37:16; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24
42. Psalms 104:2
43. Job 36:29; Psalms 18:11; Psalms 19:4
44. Job 12:21; Psalms 107:40; Isaiah 34:12
45. Isaiah 5:21; Jeremiah 25:18-27
46. Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 41:16
47. Isaiah 40:18
48. Isaiah 51:6
49. Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 48:12, 13
50. Psalms 147:4
51. Psalms 89:11-13
52. Isaiah 34:16; Isaiah 48:13

Footnotes 25

[a]. Lit "to the heart of"
[b]. Or "hard service"
[c]. Or "penalty of iniquity accepted as paid off"
[d]. Or "of one calling out"
[e]. Or "In order that the"
[f]. Another reading is "I said"
[g]. Or "constancy"
[h]. Or "Because"
[i]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
[j]. DSS reads "waters of the sea"
[k]. Or "half cubit;" i.e. 9 in.
[l]. Lit "contained" or "comprehended"
[m]. Or "measured, marked off"
[n]. Or "coastlands"
[o]. Or "void"
[p]. Or "graven image"
[q]. Or "set up"
[r]. Or a "graven image"
[s]. Or "is enthroned"
[t]. Or "vault"
[u]. Or "void"
[v]. Or "Not even"
[w]. Or "Not even"
[x]. Or "Not even"
[y]. So DSS and ancient versions; M.T. "strong"