Isaiah 40
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry 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.”
3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
4 Every 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.
5 Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.”
6 The voice of one saying, “Cry!” Another said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
9 You 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!”
10 Behold, 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.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those who have their young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and measured the sky with a span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
14 With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, 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.
16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks skillful workmen to set up an engraved image that will not be moved.
21 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Hasn’t it been told you from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It 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;
23 who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24 They 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 like stubble.
25 “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift 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.
27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?
28 Haven’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.
29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
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.
Isaiah 40 Commentary
Chapter Overview
Isaiah 40 begins a major new movement in the book. After Isaiah 39 announced that Judah’s treasures and royal descendants would be carried to Babylon, this chapter speaks to a people living under the shadow of exile. Its first word is not another accusation but repeated comfort: God has not abandoned his covenant people.
The chapter moves through a series of voices and questions. A highway is prepared for Yahweh, human glory fades like grass, and good news announces, “Behold, your God!” Isaiah then contrasts the Creator’s immeasurable greatness with powerless idols and exhausted humanity. The conclusion promises renewed strength to those who wait for Yahweh.
Key Themes
“Comfort, comfort my people” expresses both tenderness and divine authority. They remain God’s after discipline. Comfort does not deny sin or suffering; it announces that judgment will not have the final word. The God who wounded through correction now speaks restoration to those who felt forgotten.
To “speak comfortably” to Jerusalem literally carries the sense of speaking to the heart. God addresses more than changed circumstances. He speaks to a discouraged community whose confidence has been broken. Biblical comfort reaches inward because it rests on God’s declared purpose, not merely on favorable emotions or temporary relief.
Jerusalem’s “warfare” being accomplished refers to her appointed hardship or compulsory service reaching its end. Her iniquity is pardoned because God himself has dealt with it. The statement that she received “double” need not mean she was punished twice beyond justice. It emphasizes a full measure: the debt has been completely answered and the season of discipline is over.
The voice in the wilderness calls for a highway for Yahweh. Ancient rulers were sometimes welcomed by preparing roads, but Isaiah transforms that picture into a new exodus. God will personally lead his people home. Valleys rise and mountains fall because no obstacle can prevent the arrival of the divine King.
The Gospels apply this voice to John the Baptist. Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, and John 1 present John as the messenger preparing people through repentance for Jesus. This use does not erase Isaiah’s restoration setting; it shows the promised coming of God reaching its decisive fulfillment in Christ.
Yahweh’s glory will be revealed before “all flesh.” The restoration is not a private event meaningful only to Judah. God acts so that humanity can see who he is. The certainty rests in the final line: “Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.” Empires, landscapes, and generations change, but his declared purpose cannot fail.
The next voice asks what should be proclaimed, and the answer contrasts human frailty with God’s permanence. People and their splendor resemble grass and field flowers. Beauty, political influence, wealth, and strength may appear impressive, yet they remain vulnerable to the breath of God. Human mortality makes every boast temporary.
By contrast, “the word of our God stands forever.” The promise of restoration is secure because it depends on the enduring speech of the eternal God. 1 Peter 1 uses this passage to describe the lasting good news through which believers are born again. God’s word outlives both persecutors and the people who proclaim it.
The herald is told to announce good news without fear: “Behold, your God!” The center of salvation is not merely release from Babylon, return to land, or improved circumstances. The supreme gift is God’s presence. Hope becomes stable when attention shifts from the size of the crisis to the identity of the One who comes.
Verses 10–11 hold divine strength and tenderness together. The Lord comes with a ruling arm, reward, and recompense, yet that same arm gathers lambs and carries them close. He is neither weakly indulgent nor harshly powerful. His kingship defeats opposition while his shepherd care adapts to the weakness of those he leads.
The questions beginning in verse 12 stretch imagination beyond human scale. God measures oceans in his hand, spans the heavens, and weighs mountains as though creation were a small object. These images are poetic, not instructions for physical measurement. They teach that what overwhelms humanity remains fully known, ordered, and governed by the Creator.
No one directed Yahweh’s Spirit or served as his counselor. God did not learn justice, knowledge, or understanding from another source. Paul echoes this question in Romans 11 while praising God’s unsearchable wisdom. Divine decisions may exceed human understanding, but they never arise from ignorance or dependence.
The nations are compared to a drop left in a bucket and dust on a scale. Isaiah is not saying peoples are morally worthless or outside God’s concern; all flesh will see his glory. The point is comparative power. Even the greatest empire cannot outweigh, instruct, or frustrate the Lord, and even Lebanon’s forests and animals could not supply an offering proportionate to his majesty.
Isaiah’s idol satire exposes the absurdity of comparing God with an object. A wealthy person commissions metalwork and gold; a poor person chooses durable wood and a skilled craftsman. In both cases, human hands must make and stabilize the supposed god. The idol cannot keep itself upright, much less uphold the worshiper.
God, however, sits above the “circle of the earth” and stretches out the heavens like a tent. The verse is poetic language about his sovereign vantage and creative rule, not a technical lesson about the planet’s geometry. Earth’s inhabitants appear small before him, and rulers who seem permanent can wither as quickly as newly planted growth.
The stars provide another contrast with idols. Ancient cultures often treated heavenly bodies as divine powers, but Isaiah calls them an army summoned, numbered, and named by Yahweh. None is missing because his strength sustains them. The heavens do not govern God’s people; their Creator commands the heavens.
Israel’s complaint in verse 27 is emotionally honest: “My way is hidden from Yahweh.” Exile can make faithful people feel unseen and justice delayed. God does not rebuke the existence of pain so much as the conclusion drawn from it. Hidden from human sight is not hidden from the everlasting Creator.
God never faints, grows weary, or reaches the limit of his understanding. This makes him fundamentally different from both oppressors and sufferers. Human energy eventually fails, even in the young and strong, but God’s ability to act is never depleted. His help is not the leftover strength of a tired rescuer.
The Lord gives power specifically to the weak. The promise does not begin by congratulating the self-sufficient; it meets those who have no might. Weakness can become the place where dependence replaces illusion. God’s strength does not always remove demanding circumstances, but it enables his people to continue faithfully within them.
Those who wait for Yahweh renew their strength. Waiting means hopeful trust, not passive refusal to obey. It continues looking to God when immediate solutions are unavailable. The eagle, runner, and walker images move from dramatic height to ordinary endurance, showing that grace is present in extraordinary deliverance and in the daily strength to take another step.
Important Verses and Questions
What does Isaiah 40:3 mean by preparing Yahweh’s way? In Isaiah’s setting, it announces God leading his people through a new exodus from captivity. In the Gospels, John prepares people for Jesus through repentance. The shared point is that God is coming, obstacles will not stop him, and people must be ready to receive their King.
Does “double for all her sins” teach excessive punishment? The surrounding message is comfort and pardon, not an accusation that God acted unjustly. “Double” most naturally emphasizes completeness, like a document folded over or an account fully matched. Jerusalem’s discipline has reached its appointed limit; the Lord now announces restoration.
Who is the shepherd in Isaiah 40:11? The shepherd is the Lord Yahweh who comes with power in verse 10. The New Testament’s presentation of Jesus as the good shepherd therefore carries a profound claim about his identity and mission. The promised ruler protects the flock without crushing the vulnerable.
Does Isaiah 40:22 describe a scientific shape of the earth? The “circle” belongs to a poetic picture of God enthroned above the inhabited world while the heavens spread like a canopy. The theological claim is clear even where modern geometric questions are not being addressed: creation lies beneath God’s authority, and humanity is not his equal.
Why does God answer Israel’s complaint by speaking about creation? The people feared their case had escaped his notice or exceeded his ability. The Creator who numbers the stars has neither lost track of his covenant people nor run out of power. Cosmic greatness becomes pastoral reassurance.
What does it mean to mount up with wings like eagles? It describes strength supplied by God, not a promise that believers will avoid fatigue, grief, aging, or hardship. The verse includes running and walking because renewed faith often appears as perseverance. God may lift his people above a crisis, carry them through it, or sustain them one faithful step at a time.
Practical Applications
Receive comfort on God’s terms. Isaiah does not offer vague optimism; he names sin, pardon, God’s coming, and the reliability of his word. Lasting comfort grows from truth about God rather than from pretending loss is small or promising that circumstances will change immediately.
Prepare the Lord’s way through repentance. Pride, dishonesty, bitterness, and stubborn habits create resistance to God’s rule. Believers do not build salvation’s highway by their own merit, but they should remove what they know opposes the King they profess to welcome.
Measure powers correctly. Nations, leaders, economies, and personal crises can dominate attention until they appear ultimate. Isaiah does not deny their real effects; he places them beside the Creator. Fear becomes more truthful when earthly strength is viewed at God’s scale.
Refuse handmade substitutes for God. Modern idols may be careers, political influence, possessions, approval, or controlled religious images of our own preference. Anything we construct, manage, and prop up cannot bear the weight of ultimate trust.
Wait actively and honestly. Bring the complaint that your way feels hidden, then answer it with what God has revealed about his character. Continue praying, obeying, serving, and taking the next responsible step. Renewed strength is often recognized not by constant soaring but by the grace to keep walking without surrendering hope.