Isaiah 40
A Message of Comfort and Pardon 1–2
Prepare the Way of the LORD 3–5
The Eternity of God's Word 6–8
Proclaim the Arrival of God 9–11
The Incomparable Creator 12–17
The Folly of Idolatry 18–26
Assurance for Weary Israel 27–28
Strength for Those Who Wait 29–31
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Isaiah 40
Verse 1
Comfort ye, comfort ye — The verb nacham is doubled and plural, a command to those sent to speak (v.2), and it comes straight after the sentence of 39:6–7. ‘My people’ and ‘your God’ are the covenant pair. The promise is repeated: ‘the LORD shall comfort Zion’ (Isa 51:3) and ‘the LORD hath comforted his people’ (Isa 52:9).
Verse 2
her warfare is accomplished — ‘Warfare’ is tsava, a host or term of service, the word of ‘their host’ in v.26. ‘Pardoned’ is ratsah, to accept, the verb of Lev 26:41, 43, ‘accept of the punishment of their iniquity’. ‘Double’ is kephel, found only here and in Job 11:6 and 41:13. ‘Speak ye comfortably’ is literally ‘to the heart’ (Hos 2:14).
Verse 3
Prepare ye the way of the LORD — All four Gospels apply the verse to John the Baptist (Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23), and each reads ‘the way of the LORD’ as ‘the way of the Lord’, Christ’s own. ‘Highway’ is mesillah, a built-up road, to be made straight through the ‘desert’ (arabah).
Verse 5
the glory of the LORD shall be revealed — ‘Revealed’ is galah, to uncover. Luke extends the quotation of vv.3–5 to ‘And all flesh shall see the salvation of God’ (Luke 3:4–6), and John writes of the Word made flesh, ‘we beheld his glory’ (John 1:14). ‘The mouth of the LORD hath spoken it’ also closes Isa 1:20 and 58:14.
Verse 6
All flesh is grass — ‘Goodliness’ is chesed, which the KJV usually renders ‘mercy’ or ‘lovingkindness’; here it is attributed to man. Ps 103:15–17 makes the same contrast: ‘his days are as grass’, and then ‘the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting’. The voice’s ‘What shall I cry?’ is answered in vv.7–8.
Verse 8
the word of our God shall stand for ever — ‘Stand’ is qum, to rise up and remain. Peter takes vv.6–8 together and names the word: ‘the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you’ (1 Pet 1:24–25). Christ says the same of his own: ‘my words shall not pass away’ (Matt 24:35).
Verse 9
that bringest good tidings — Basar, to announce glad news, the verb of Isa 52:7, ‘him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace’, and of Isa 61:1, ‘to preach good tidings unto the meek’. The whole message is ‘Behold your God!’, carried ‘unto the cities of Judah’; Isa 52:7 gives its words, ‘Thy God reigneth!’
Verse 11
feed his flock like a shepherd — Ra’ah is both ‘feed’ and ‘shepherd’, one verb in both clauses. The ‘arm’ that ‘shall rule for him’ in v.10 is the arm that gathers the lambs. Christ takes the title, ‘I am the good shepherd’ (John 10:11), and Ezekiel sets it in David’s line, ‘one shepherd… my servant David’ (Ezek 34:23).
Verse 12
meted out heaven with the span — Zeret, the span of the outstretched hand; the breastplate was ‘a span’ long and ‘a span’ wide (Ex 28:16). Five measures are named: the hollow of the hand, the span, a measure, scales and a balance. Job 38:5 puts the same question to man: ‘Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest?’
Verse 13
Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD — ‘Directed’ is takan, to measure or weigh, the verb rendered ‘meted out’ in v.12. Paul draws on the question in Rom 11:34, ‘who hath been his counsellor?’, and in 1 Cor 2:16, ‘who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?’
Verse 15
as a drop of a bucket — ‘Drop’ is mar, a single distilled drop, and ‘the small dust of the balance’ is the fine dust on the scales. ‘Isles’ is iy, the coastlands, the farthest peoples. ‘A very little thing’ is daq, crushed or fine. The figure ends in v.17: ‘All nations before him are as nothing’.
Verse 18
what likeness will ye compare unto him? — ‘Likeness’ is demuth, the word of Gen 1:26, ‘after our likeness’, where God makes man; vv.19–20 describe the reverse, a workman casting an image. The question returns at v.25 and in Isa 46:5, and Ex 15:11 answers it: ‘Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods?’
Verse 22
the circle of the earth — Chug, a circle, found only here, in Job 22:14 (‘the circuit of heaven’) and in Prov 8:27 (‘a compass upon the face of the depth’). The ‘grasshoppers’ (chagav) are the word of the spies in Num 13:33, ‘we were in our own sight as grasshoppers’. ‘Curtain’ (doq) occurs only here.
Verse 26
calleth them all by names — The ‘host’ (tsava) is the stars brought out ‘by number’, as Ps 147:4 says: ‘He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names’. ‘Created’ is bara, the verb of Gen 1:1 and the ‘Creator’ of v.28. The stars answer Israel’s complaint in v.27.
Verse 27
My way is hid from the LORD — ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel’ are addressed together, as in 41:14. ‘Judgment’ is mishpat, the right due to him, said to be ‘passed over’. The complaint is repeated in 49:14, ‘The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me’, and answered in 49:15: ‘yet will I not forget thee’.
Verse 28
fainteth not, neither is weary — The two verbs, ya’aph and yaga, return in vv.30–31: ‘the youths shall faint and be weary’, but those who wait ‘shall run, and not be weary… walk, and not faint’. The questions repeat those of v.21, ‘Have ye not known? have ye not heard?’; compare Rom 11:33, ‘how unsearchable are his judgments’.
Verse 29
He giveth power to the faint — ‘Might’ is on, the same word as ‘the greatness of his might’ in v.26. The strength by which the stars are kept is the strength given to ‘them that have no might’. Paul records the same answer: ‘my strength is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Cor 12:9).
Verse 31
wait upon the LORD — Qavah, to wait with expectation, the verb of Lam 3:25, ‘The LORD is good unto them that wait for him’, and of Ps 27:14. ‘Renew’ is chalaph, to change, so the strength is exchanged. The verbs of v.28 return here: the LORD ‘fainteth not, neither is weary’, and those who wait ‘run, and not be weary’.