Isaiah 40

Listen to Isaiah 40

Comfort for God's People

1 ¹Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

2 ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that ³her warfare^[a] is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

3 ⁴A voice cries:^[b] ⁵"In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; ⁶make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 ⁷Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

5 ⁸And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, ⁹for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

The Word of God Stands Forever

6 A voice says, "Cry!" And I said^[c], "What shall I cry?" ¹⁰All flesh is grass, and all its beauty^[d] is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.

8 ¹¹The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

The Greatness of God

9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, ¹²herald of good news;^[e] lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news;^[f] lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

10 ¹³Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; ¹⁴behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 ¹⁵He will tend his flock like a shepherd; ¹⁶he will gather the lambs in his arms; ¹⁷he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

12 ¹⁸Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

13 ¹⁹Who has measured^[g] the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?

14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? ²⁰Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted ²¹as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up ²²the coastlands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are ²³its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 ²⁴All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 ²⁵To whom then will you liken God, ²⁶or what likeness compare with him?

19 ²⁷An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.

20 ²⁸He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood^[h] that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

21 ²⁹Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are ³⁰like grasshoppers; ³¹who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23 ³²who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, ³³and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 ³⁴To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? ³⁵He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ³⁶"My way is hidden from the LORD, ³⁷and my right is disregarded by my God"?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is ³⁸the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; ³⁹his understanding is unsearchable.

29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

31 but ⁴⁰they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings ⁴¹like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

PREVIOUS Isaiah 39 NEXT Isaiah 41

Images for Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40 Commentary

Chapter 40

The preaching of the gospel, and glad tidings of the coming of Christ. (1-11) The almighty power of God. (12-17) The folly of idolatry. (18-26) Against unbelief. (27-31)

Verses 1-11 All human life is a warfare; the Christian life is the most so; but the struggle will not last always. Troubles are removed in love, when sin is pardoned. In the great atonement of the death of Christ, the mercy of God is exercised to the glory of his justice. In Christ, and his sufferings, true penitents receive of the Lord's hand double for all their sins; for the satisfaction Christ made by his death was of infinite value. The prophet had some reference to the return of the Jews from Babylon. But this is a small event, compared with that pointed out by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament, when John the Baptist proclaimed the approach of Christ. When eastern princes marched through desert countries, ways were prepared for them, and hinderances removed. And may the Lord prepare our hearts by the teaching of his word and the convictions of his Spirit, that high and proud thoughts may be brought down, good desires planted, crooked and rugged tempers made straight and softened, and every hinderance removed, that we may be ready for his will on earth, and prepared for his heavenly kingdom. What are all that belongs to fallen man, or all that he does, but as the grass and the flower thereof! And what will all the titles and possessions of a dying sinner avail, when they leave him under condemnation! The word of the Lord can do that for us, which all flesh cannot. The glad tidings of the coming of Christ were to be sent forth to the ends of the earth. Satan is the strong man armed; but our Lord Jesus is stronger; and he shall proceed, and do all that he purposes. Christ is the good Shepherd; he shows tender care for young converts, weak believers, and those of a sorrowful spirit. By his word he requires no more service, and by his providence he inflicts no more trouble, than he will strengthen them for. May we know our Shepherd's voice, and follow him, proving ourselves his sheep.

Verses 12-17 All created beings shrink to nothing in comparison with the Creator. When the Lord, by his Spirit, made the world, none directed his Spirit, or gave advice what to do, or how to do it. The nations, in comparison of him, are as a drop which remains in the bucket, compared with the vast ocean; or as the small dust in the balance, which does not turn it, compared with all the earth. This magnifies God's love to the world, that, though it is of such small account and value with him, yet, for the redemption of it, he gave his only-begotten Son, ( John 3:16 ) . The services of the church can make no addition to him. Our souls must have perished for ever, if the only Son of the Father had not given himself for us.

Verses 18-26 Whatever we esteem or love, fear or hope in, more than God, that creature we make equal with God, though we do not make images or worship them. He that is so poor, that he has scarcely a sacrifice to offer, yet will not be without a god of his own. They spared no cost upon their idols; we grudge what is spent in the service of our God. To prove the greatness of God, the prophet appeals to all ages and nations. Those who are ignorant of this, are willingly ignorant. God has the command of all creatures, and of all created things. The prophet directs us to use our reason as well as our senses; to consider who created the hosts of heaven, and to pay our homage to Him. Not one fails to fulfil his will. And let us not forget, that He spake all the promises, and engaged to perform them.

Verses 27-31 The people of God are reproved for their unbelief and distrust of God. Let them remember they took the names Jacob and Israel, from one who found God faithful to him in all his straits. And they bore these names as a people in covenant with Him. Many foolish frets, and foolish fears, would vanish before inquiry into the causes. It is bad to have evil thoughts rise in our minds, but worse to turn them into evil words. What they had known, and had heard, was sufficient to silence all these fears and distrusts. Where God had begun the work of grace, he will perfect it. He will help those who, in humble dependence on him, help themselves. As the day, so shall the strength be. In the strength of Divine grace their souls shall ascend above the world. They shall run the way of God's commandments cheerfully. Let us watch against unbelief, pride, and self-confidence. If we go forth in our own strength, we shall faint, and utterly fall; but having our hearts and our hopes in heaven, we shall be carried above all difficulties, and be enabled to lay hold of the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 41

1. Isaiah 51:12; [Luke 2:25]
2. Hosea 2:14
3. [2 Chronicles 36:22; Jeremiah 25:12]
4. Cited Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23
5. Malachi 3:1; [Isaiah 57:14]
6. Psalms 68:4
7. Cited Luke 3:5; [Isaiah 49:11]
8. [Luke 3:6]
9. Isaiah 1:20
10. Cited 1 Peter 1:24, 25; [Job 14:2; Psalms 102:11; Psalms 103:15; James 1:10]
11. Cited James 1:11
12. Isaiah 52:7
13. Isaiah 59:16, 17; [Luke 11:22]
14. Isaiah 62:11; [Revelation 22:12]
15. Ezekiel 34:23; Zechariah 11:7; [John 10:11; John 21:15; Acts 20:28]
16. [Matthew 18:12; Luke 15:5]
17. [Numbers 11:12]
18. [Proverbs 30:4]
19. Cited Romans 11:34; [1 Corinthians 2:16]
20. Job 21:22
21. Isaiah 29:5
22. Isaiah 41:1
23. [Psalms 50:10]
24. Psalms 62:9; Daniel 4:35; [Isaiah 41:12]
25. ver. 25; Isaiah 46:5; Acts 17:29
26. [Hosea 13:2]
27. [See ver. 18 above]
28. Isaiah 46:6; Jeremiah 10:3-5; See Isaiah 44:9-15
29. ver. 28; [Acts 14:17; Romans 1:19, 20]
30. [Numbers 13:33]
31. Job 9:8; Psalms 104:2
32. Job 12:21; Psalms 107:40
33. Isaiah 41:2; [Psalms 83:13]
34. ver. 18
35. Psalms 147:4
36. [Isaiah 49:14]
37. [Isaiah 49:4]
38. [Psalms 121:4]
39. Psalms 147:5
40. Psalms 103:5
41. [Exodus 19:4]

Footnotes 8

[a]. Or time of service
[b]. Or A voice of one crying
[c]. Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text And someone says
[d]. Or all its constancy
[e]. Or O herald of good news to Zion
[f]. Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem
[g]. Or has directed
[h]. Or He chooses valuable wood

Chapter Summary

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.