Isaiah 40:1-26

God's People Comforted

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

2 Speak tenderly to^[a] Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of servitude is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one crying out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;^[b] make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

4 Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rough places a plain.

5 And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity^[c] will see [it] together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

6 A voice was saying, "Cry out!" Another^[d] said, "What should I cry out?" "All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flowers fade when the breath^[e] of the Lord blows on them;^[f] indeed, the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever."

9 Zion, herald of good news, go up on a high mountain. Jerusalem, herald of good news, raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"

10 See, the Lord God comes with strength, and His power establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His gifts accompany Him.

11 He protects His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries [them] in the fold of His [garment]. He gently leads those that are nursing.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span [of his hand]? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in scales?

13 Who has directed^[g] the Spirit of the Lord, or who gave Him His counsel?^[h]

14 Who did He consult with? Who gave Him understanding and taught Him the paths of justice? Who taught Him knowledge and showed Him the way of understanding?

15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon is not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are considered by Him as nothingness and emptiness.

18 Who will you compare God with? What likeness will you compare Him to?

19 To an idol?-[something that] a smelter casts, and a metalworker plates with gold and makes silver welds [for it]?

20 To one who shapes a pedestal, choosing wood that does not rot?^[i] He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not fall over.

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

22 God is enthroned above the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He reduces princes to nothing and makes the judges of the earth to be irrational.

24 They are barely planted, barely sown, their stem hardly takes root in the ground when He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

25 "Who will you compare Me to, or who is My equal?" asks the Holy One.

26 Look up^[j] and see: who created these? He brings out the starry host by number; He calls all of them by name. Because of His great power and strength, not one of them is missing.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit Speak to the heart of
• [b]. Mt 3:3; Mk 1:3; Lk 3:4; Jn 1:23
• [c]. Lit flesh
• [d]. DSS, LXX, Vg read I
• [e]. Or wind, or Spirit
• [f]. Lit it
• [g]. Or measured, or comprehended
• [h]. Rm 11:34
• [i]. Or who is too poor for such an offering, or who chooses mulberry wood as a votive gift; Hb obscure
• [j]. Lit Lift up your eyes on high