Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40 opens a new section of the book with a word of comfort for God’s people, announcing that their sin is dealt with and that the LORD Himself is coming. The chapter sets human frailty beside the endless word of God, and the greatness of the Creator beside the emptiness of idols and rulers. It ends with a promise that weary people who wait on the LORD find new strength.

Isaiah 40:1

God speaks first, and His first word is comfort. The command is doubled, as if He cannot say it strongly enough. Notice the tender claim: “My people,” “your God.” After long judgment, the relationship still stands, and God Himself wants His people encouraged.

BSA: Comfort (“give comfort, encourage”): This comfort is more than sympathy; it strengthens and lifts the heart.

Hebrew: נַחֲמוּ (nachamu, H5162) — “comfort! (a command).” The word carries the sense of drawing a deep breath of relief and easing someone’s sorrow. Said twice, it is an urgent, heartfelt order to those who speak for God.

See also: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Isaiah 40:2

The message is to be spoken gently to Jerusalem: the hard period is over and sin is pardoned. The “double” speaks of the full measure of discipline already received. Christians read this as showing that God’s judgment has a limit and His mercy has the last word.

BSA: forced labor (“hard times, warfare”): The word pictures a long, wearing season of hardship, like a soldier’s term of service, and it is now ended. pardoned (“forgiven, accepted”): Her guilt is not just set aside; she is welcomed back.

Hebrew: צְבָאָהּ (tsevaah, H6635) — “her hard service, her term of warfare.” The word usually means military service. Jerusalem’s long, grinding time of hardship is pictured as a tour of duty that has now been fully served.

Isaiah 40:3

A voice calls for a road to be cleared through the wilderness for the LORD Himself to come. Ancient kings were met by road-builders before a journey. Here the King is God, and the way is made ready by turning hearts. The Gospels apply this to John the Baptist.

BSA: Prepare (“make ready, clear the path”): The picture is of removing every obstacle so that the coming One meets no hindrance.

See also: Matthew 3:3; Luke 3:4-6.

Isaiah 40:4

The land itself is reshaped for the coming King: valleys raised, mountains lowered, rough ground made smooth. It is a picture of nothing being allowed to stand in His way. Many hear in it the lifting of the humble and the bringing down of pride.

BSA: made low (“abased, humbled”): The same word can describe people, so the leveling of mountains hints at humbling the proud.

See also: Luke 3:5.

Isaiah 40:5

When the LORD comes, His glory will be seen, not by Israel alone but by all people together. This is no mere hope, because the LORD’s own mouth has spoken it. What He has said, He will do.

BSA: glory (“great honor, splendor”): God’s glory is His weighty, shining worth made visible. humanity (“flesh, all living things”): The word is the same “flesh” that Isaiah calls fragile in verse 6, yet even flesh will see God’s glory.

Hebrew: כְּבוֹד (kavod, H3519) — “glory, weight.” The word comes from the idea of heaviness. God’s glory is His real weight and importance, the opposite of the light, passing things people boast in.

Isaiah 40:6

The prophet is told to cry out, and he asks what he should say. The answer is sobering: all people are like grass, and their splendor is like a wildflower. Before God’s glory is announced, human strength and beauty are shown to be short-lived.

BSA: flesh (“humanity, mortal beings”): The word stresses our frailty and mortality, not just our bodies.

Hebrew: בָּשָׂר (basar, H1320) — “flesh, mortal humanity.” It names people in their weakness and mortality, set against the eternal God.

See also: Psalm 103:15-16; James 1:10-11.

Isaiah 40:7

Grass dries up and flowers fall when the LORD’s breath blows on them, like a hot desert wind. The people are no different. The verse is not scornful. It reminds us that life depends on God and that everything we trust apart from Him will fade.

BSA: breath (“spirit, wind”): The same word can mean wind, breath or Spirit, so God’s own breath decides how long anything lasts.

Isaiah 40:8

Here is the great contrast. Grass and flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Every human promise, power and glory passes, and His promise remains. This is why the comfort of verse 1 can be trusted.

BSA: stands (“remains, endures”): The word means to rise and stay standing, firm after everything else has fallen.

Hebrew: יָקוּם (yaqum, H6965) — “will rise up, will stand.” The same word is used of getting up and staying on one’s feet. When everything else has withered and fallen, God’s word is still standing.

See also: 1 Peter 1:24-25; Matthew 24:35.

Isaiah 40:9

Zion and Jerusalem are told to climb a high place and announce the news loudly and without fear. The news is five words long: “Here is your God!” The cities of Judah need no program, only the sight of God coming to them.

BSA: good news (“glad tidings, joyful message”): This is the joyful report of a victory or rescue, brought by a messenger.

Hebrew: מְבַשֶּׂרֶת (mevasseret, H1319) — “woman herald of good news.” The word is feminine, a woman bringing good news. It pictures the whole city of Zion becoming the messenger who announces God’s arrival.

See also: Isaiah 52:7.

Isaiah 40:10

The Lord GOD comes with might. His strong arm rules, and He brings His reward with Him. He comes as a ruler who sets things right, rewarding the faithful and dealing justly with all. His coming is both powerful and purposeful.

BSA: arm (“the arm as stretched out; strength, might, power”): The arm is the Bible’s picture of God’s strength at work to save and to rule.

See also: Revelation 22:12.

Isaiah 40:11

After the picture of power comes a picture of tenderness. The same Lord is a shepherd who gathers lambs and carries them close to His heart, and who gently leads mothers with young. His strength is used to care for the weak.

BSA: heart (“bosom, a place of intimacy and love”): The lambs are held in the fold of His garment against His chest, as close as anyone can be. gently (“with kindness and compassion”): He sets His pace to fit the weakest in the flock.

See also: John 10:11; Psalm 23:1.

Isaiah 40:12

A series of questions begins. The answers are all “God alone.” The oceans fit in His palm, the heavens are measured by His hand-span, and the mountains are weighed like goods on a scale. The One who is coming is the Creator of everything.

BSA: span (“distance from thumb to little finger”): A span is about nine inches, so the vast heavens are measured by a small unit in God’s hand.

Isaiah 40:13-14

No one taught God, advised Him or showed Him the right way. His wisdom and justice are not borrowed. We can bring Him our needs, but we cannot correct Him. This humbles us when we doubt His ways, and it comforts us because He needs no help to be wise.

BSA: counselor (“wise advisor, guide”): Kings keep advisers because they lack knowledge; God lacks none.

See also: Romans 11:33-34.

Isaiah 40:15

The nations that seem so great are, beside God, like a drop left in a bucket or dust on a scale that no one bothers to brush off. Even far-off islands weigh no more than fine dust. Their size is not a threat to Him.

BSA: islands (“coastlands, habitable spots”): These are the distant shores at the edge of the known world, and even they are tiny to Him.

Hebrew: אִיִּים (iyyim, H339) — “islands, coastlands.” The word means the far shores beyond the horizon. Even the most remote lands are light as dust in His hand.

Isaiah 40:16-17

All of Lebanon’s cedar forests could not provide enough fuel to give God an offering worthy of Him, nor its animals enough sacrifices. The nations are as nothing before Him. We are not told that people do not matter, but that no human power can rival or repay God.

BSA: nothingness (“absolute void, non-existence”): Beside Him, human power has no weight, like an empty space.

Isaiah 40:18-20

With God so great, to whom can He be compared? Isaiah mocks the idol: a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith plates it, and a poor man chooses a sturdy wood and hires someone to make sure it will not fall over. A god that must be kept from toppling cannot save anyone.

BSA: idol (“a carved image, false god”): An idol is a human product, made by hands and set up by hands. topple (“be moved, shaken”): The idol’s maker worries most about whether it will stay upright.

See also: Psalm 115:4-8; Isaiah 44:9-10.

Isaiah 40:21-22

The questions turn to Israel: have they not known this from the beginning? The LORD sits above the vault of the earth, and people look like grasshoppers from where He sits. He stretches the sky like a tent. The Creator is both far above and the one who makes a home for us.

BSA: circle (“vault”): It describes the curved dome of the horizon and sky, and God sits above all of it. tent (“tabernacle, dwelling place”): The sky is a tent spread out so that people can live under it.

Hebrew: חוּג (chug, H2329) — “circle, vault.” The word describes the round curve of the horizon, as seen from a high place. From God’s throne, the whole earth is one small circle.

Isaiah 40:23-24

Rulers who seem unshakable are brought to nothing. They are barely planted and rooted before God blows and they wither, swept off like straw in a storm. Earthly power is real but short, and the One who is coming outlasts every throne.

BSA: whirlwind (“strong storm, tempest”): A storm wind takes dry stubble without effort, just as God can remove a ruler.

See also: Daniel 2:21.

Isaiah 40:25

God now speaks directly. No one can be set beside Him as an equal. He calls Himself the Holy One, which means He is utterly set apart from everything created. The idols and the rulers are not even close to His level.

BSA: Holy One (“set apart, sacred, the divine”): He is of a different kind from all He made, not just better in degree.

Isaiah 40:26

Look up at the night sky. The One who made the stars leads them out like an army, counted and named, and none is lost. Ancient peoples worshiped the stars, but Isaiah says they are God’s creatures. If He keeps every star, He does not lose track of His people.

BSA: starry host (“army of stars, celestial bodies”): The stars are pictured as troops under a commander, answering His call. missing (“lacking, faileth”): Not one star is absent when He calls the roll.

Hebrew: בָּרָא (bara, H1254) — “created.” This word is used in the Old Testament only of God’s creating. It reminds us that the stars did not make themselves and are not gods.

See also: Psalm 147:4; Genesis 1:1.

Isaiah 40:27

Here is the real problem behind the chapter. God’s people feel that their way is hidden from Him and that their rights are overlooked. Exile makes people feel forgotten. Isaiah gently exposes the complaint so that God’s answer can meet it.

BSA: claim (“justice, or righteous judgment”): They felt that their case before God had been passed over. hidden (“concealed, or unseen”): They felt God could no longer see where they were or what they faced.

Hebrew: מִשְׁפָּטִי (mishpati, H4941) — “my justice, my cause.” It means the right they believed was due to them. They feared that God had stopped hearing their case.

Isaiah 40:28

The answer: do you not know? The LORD is everlasting, the Creator of the whole earth, and He never grows tired. His understanding cannot be fully explored. He has not overlooked His people. We may not follow all His ways, but we can trust the One who does.

BSA: everlasting (“eternal, forever”): He has no beginning or end, so no passing years wear Him down. searching out (“investigation, examination”): His wisdom is too deep for us to trace to its bottom.

See also: Psalm 121:3-4; Romans 11:33.

Isaiah 40:29-30

The God who never tires gives strength to those who do. Even young and strong people reach the end of themselves and fall. The point is not to shame the weak but to say that the best human strength fails, while the Lord gives power to the faint.

BSA: faint (“weary, exhausted”): He gives strength exactly to those who have none left. weak (“powerless, having no might, ein koach”): The Hebrew describes someone with no might at all, the very person God supplies.

See also: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

Isaiah 40:31

Those who wait on the LORD receive fresh strength. They soar like eagles, run and do not tire, walk and do not faint. The promise covers every pace of life, from flight down to the plain daily walk. Strength comes from trusting Him, not from ourselves.

BSA: wait (“expecting, trusting”): Waiting here is not idle; it means hopeful, confident trust in the LORD. renew (“restore, regain”): God does not just add to our strength but exchanges our spent strength for His.

Hebrew: קָוָה (qavah, H6960) — “to wait, to hope.” The word comes from the idea of twisting strands into a rope. To wait on the LORD is to be bound to Him, with our hope woven into His faithfulness.

See also: Psalm 27:14; Lamentations 3:25.