1"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God. 2"Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of 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 level 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. 5The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it." 6The voice of one saying, "Cry!" 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 marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, 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 showed 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 skillful workman to set up an engraved 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 like meaningless. 24They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. 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 lacking. 27Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by 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 faint and get weary, and the young men 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.
The Book ofIsaiah 40Chapter XL 40
· 31 verses · 4 minute read
About this chapter
Isaiah 40 — Comfort, Comfort My People
Isaiah 40 opens the most consoling section of all Old Testament prophecy. After thirty-nine chapters of warning and judgment upon Israel and the nations, chapter 40 shifts the entire tone: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God." The verb nacham (to comfort) appears twice, signaling intensity and urgency. The voice crying in the wilderness (40:3) is the very mission John the Baptist would later assume (Matthew 3:3). God compares nations to a drop in a bucket and dust upon a balance scale—a cosmic perspective that relativizes all political anxiety and human striving. The climax arrives in the final verses: "Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." The Hebrew word qavah, translated "wait" or "hope," literally means "to intertwine like cords"—waiting upon God is not passivity but rather a binding together with His strength. The image of eagles carries profound meaning: eagles shed and renew their feathers in cycles, entering periods when they appear hidden, almost lifeless, before emerging stronger than before. To wait upon God is precisely this kind of renewal—a season of seeming stillness that precedes restoration and vigor.
Isaiah prophesied in Judah during the eighth century BC. Chapters 40–66 address the exiled people in Babylon (sixth century BC), promising restoration and redemption.
Read this when you are exhausted, when hope feels distant, when you need a God who wipes away tears and restores your weary soul.
Key verses in Isaiah 40
Isaiah 40:8 · Promise · High comfortIsaiah 40:31 · Promise · High comfortIsaiah 40:22 · High comfort
Explore each verse of Isaiah 40
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