Isaiah 40:9-31

The Greatness of God

9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, ¹herald of good news;^[a] lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news;^[b] lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

10 ²Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; ³behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

11 ⁴He will tend his flock like a shepherd; ⁵he will gather the lambs in his arms; ⁶he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

12 ⁷Who 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 ⁸Who has measured^[c] the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?

14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? ⁹Who 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 ¹⁰as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up ¹¹the coastlands like fine dust.

16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are ¹²its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 ¹³All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18 ¹⁴To whom then will you liken God, ¹⁵or what likeness compare with him?

19 ¹⁶An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.

20 ¹⁷He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood^[d] that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

21 ¹⁸Do 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 ¹⁹like grasshoppers; ²⁰who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

23 ²¹who 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, ²²and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25 ²³To 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? ²⁴He 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, ²⁵"My way is hidden from the LORD, ²⁶and my right is disregarded by my God"?

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is ²⁷the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; ²⁸his 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 ²⁹they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings ³⁰like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

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

Footnotes

• [a]. Or O herald of good news to Zion
• [b]. Or O herald of good news to Jerusalem
• [c]. Or has directed
• [d]. Or He chooses valuable wood