Isaiah 40:1-26

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 Go on 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.

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.

Cross References

• 1. 40:1 ch. 51:12; [Luke 2:25]
• 2. 40:2 Hos. 2:14
• 3. 40:2 [2 Chr. 36:22; Jer. 25:12]
• 4. 40:3 Cited Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23
• 5. 40:3 Mal. 3:1; [ch. 57:14]
• 6. 40:3 Ps. 68:4
• 7. 40:4 Cited Luke 3:5; [ch. 49:11]
• 8. 40:5 [Luke 3:6]
• 9. 40:5 ch. 1:20
• 10. 40:6 Cited 1 Pet. 1:24, 25; [Job 14:2; Ps. 102:11; 103:15; James 1:10]
• 11. 40:8 Cited James 1:11
• 12. 40:9 ch. 52:7
• 13. 40:10 ch. 59:16, 17; [Luke 11:22]
• 14. 40:10 ch. 62:11; [Rev. 22:12]
• 15. 40:11 Ezek. 34:23; Zech. 11:7; [John 10:11; 21:15; Acts 20:28]
• 16. 40:11 [Matt. 18:12; Luke 15:5]
• 17. 40:11 [Num. 11:12]
• 18. 40:12 [Prov. 30:4]
• 19. 40:13 Cited Rom. 11:34; [1 Cor. 2:16]
• 20. 40:14 Job 21:22
• 21. 40:15 ch. 29:5
• 22. 40:15 ch. 41:1
• 23. 40:16 [Ps. 50:10]
• 24. 40:17 Ps. 62:9; Dan. 4:35; [ch. 41:12]
• 25. 40:18 ver. 25; ch. 46:5; Acts 17:29
• 26. 40:18 [Hos. 13:2]
• 27. 40:19 [See ver. 18 above]
• 28. 40:20 ch. 46:6; Jer. 10:3-5; See ch. 44:9-15
• 29. 40:21 ver. 28; [Acts 14:17; Rom. 1:19, 20]
• 30. 40:22 [Num. 13:33]
• 31. 40:22 Job 9:8; Ps. 104:2
• 32. 40:23 Job 12:21; Ps. 107:40
• 33. 40:24 ch. 41:2; [Ps. 83:13]
• 34. 40:25 ver. 18
• 35. 40:26 Ps. 147:4

Footnotes

• [a] 40:2 Or 'hardship'
• [b] 40:3 Or 'A voice of one crying'
• [c] 40:6 Revocalization based on Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Vulgate; Masoretic Text 'And someone says'
• [d] 40:6 Or 'all its constancy'
• [e] 40:9 Or 'O herald of good news to Zion'
• [f] 40:9 Or 'O herald of good news to Jerusalem'
• [g] 40:13 Or 'has directed'
• [h] 40:20 Or 'He chooses valuable wood'