Isaiah 40 · WEB
Comfort for God's People
Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.
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"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God.
2"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and tell her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from Yahweh's hand double for all her sins."
3The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a straight highway in the desert for our God.
4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.
5Yahweh's glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it."
6The voice of one saying, "Cry!" and one said, "What shall I cry?" "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh's breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever."
9You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don't be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, "Behold, your God!"
10Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13Who has directed Yahweh's Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
14Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shown him the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
16Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skilled workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
21Haven't you known? Haven't you heard, yet? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;
23who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the earth. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25"To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.
27Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is passed away from my God?"
28Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;
31but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
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Summary
Isaiah 40 opens the second major section of Isaiah (chapters 40–66) with a dramatic shift from judgment to consolation. God commands his messengers to comfort Jerusalem, announcing that her punishment is complete and the way of the Lord is being prepared. The chapter establishes God's incomparable greatness over nations, rulers, and idols, declaring him the everlasting Creator who never grows weary. It closes with the promise that those who wait on the Lord will receive renewed strength, mounting up like eagles.
Themes
- God's comfort and tender care for his people after judgment
- The incomparable greatness and sovereignty of God over creation and nations
- The futility and foolishness of idolatry
- The eternal reliability of God's word
- Renewed strength for those who trust and wait on the Lord
Key verses
- Isa 40:1 — “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”
- Isa 40:28 — “The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable.”
- Isa 40:31 — “But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.”
- Isa 40:8 — “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
Context & background
Isaiah 40 likely addresses exiles facing the Babylonian captivity (modern central Iraq), offering hope for eventual return to their homeland (modern Israel). The dramatic opening — "Comfort, comfort my people" — signals a theological turning point after thirty-nine chapters of warnings and judgment. The imagery of a highway prepared through the wilderness echoes the Exodus route across the Sinai Peninsula (modern Egypt), casting the return from Babylon as a new Exodus. All four Gospel writers cite Isaiah 40:3 as the prophecy fulfilled by John the Baptist, making this chapter foundational for both Jewish and Christian messianic expectation.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 1:24–25 — Peter quotes Isa 40:6–8 on the withering of flesh versus the enduring word of God
- John 1:23 — John the Baptist identifies himself as the voice in the wilderness foretold in this chapter
- Mark 1:3 — "The voice of one crying in the wilderness" applied to John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus (Isa 40:3)
- Revelation 22:12 — "My reward is with me" echoes Isa 40:10, connecting God's coming with final recompense
- Romans 11:34 — Paul quotes Isa 40:13 ("Who has known the mind of the Lord?") to celebrate God's unsearchable wisdom