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Isaiah 40: Comfort My People

A voice cries comfort over a weary people, announcing the coming of God, the frailty of all flesh, and the strength he gives to those who wait.

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Isaiah 40 (WEB)

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.”

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 the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

6 The 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.

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. He will gently lead those who have their young.

12 Who 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?

13 Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or has taught him as his counselor?

14 Who 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?

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 a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.

21 Haven’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?

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 like 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 as 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.

Summary

A new movement of Isaiah opens with tenderness: “Comfort, comfort my people,” God says, declaring that Jerusalem’s warfare is over and her iniquity pardoned. A voice cries in the wilderness to prepare the way of the LORD, leveling valleys and mountains so that his glory may be revealed and all flesh see it together. Another voice answers, contrasting the withering grass of human glory with the word of our God that stands forever. Good news is to be lifted up to the cities of Judah: “Behold, your God!”—the mighty Lord who comes with his arm to rule, yet who gathers the lambs in his arms and gently leads those with young. The chapter then soars into a meditation on God’s incomparable greatness: he measures the waters in his hand, weighs the mountains, sits above the circle of the earth, and brings princes to nothing. To whom, then, will we compare him? When Jacob complains that his way is hidden from the LORD, the prophet answers with the everlasting God who never faints and gives power to the weak. Those who wait for him will renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles. For us, this comfort comes to its fullness in Christ, the way prepared and the good news embodied.

Voices

  • The LORD (Yahweh) — The everlasting God and Creator who comforts his people, comes in might, shepherds the weak, and renews the strength of all who wait for him.
  • The voice in the wilderness — The herald who cries out to prepare the way of the LORD, leveling the ground so his glory may be revealed to all flesh.
  • Jacob / Israel — The weary, doubting people who fear their way is hidden from God, addressed with the reminder that the everlasting God never faints.

Key Verse

Isaiah 40:31 (WEB)

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.

Lessons Learned

  • God’s heart toward his chastened people is comfort, not condemnation, once their iniquity is pardoned.
  • Human glory withers like grass, but the word of our God stands forever.
  • The God who is greater than all creation is also the Shepherd who gathers lambs in his arms.
  • Those who feel forgotten are invited to wait on the everlasting God, who gives strength to the weak.
  • God comforts the broken. “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God (Isaiah 40:1, WEB). His first word to a humbled people is tenderness, not further judgment.
  • God’s word endures forever. “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8, WEB). What he speaks outlasts every fading human glory.
  • God is both mighty and gentle. He comes “as a mighty one,” yet “will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom” (Isaiah 40:10-11, WEB). His power serves his tenderness.
  • God renews those who wait. “Those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31, WEB). Waiting on him is not passive resignation but the source of new strength.
  1. What reasons does God give that his people should be comforted, and how does that comfort begin the chapter?
  2. How does the contrast between withering grass and the enduring word of God reshape the way we measure what lasts?
  3. Verses 12-26 pile up images of God’s greatness. Which image most enlarges your view of God, and why?
  4. Jacob complains that his way is hidden from the LORD (40:27). How does God answer that complaint?
  5. Where in your life do you feel weary or faint, and what would it look like this week to “wait for Yahweh” for renewed strength?
  1. God declares that Jerusalem’s warfare is accomplished and her iniquity pardoned (40:2), and that his glory will be revealed to all flesh (40:5). Comfort flows from forgiveness and from the promise of God’s own coming.
  2. Help the group feel the contrast: empires, reputations, and beauty fade like grass under God’s breath (40:7-8), while his word stands forever. This frees us to invest in what endures rather than in fading human glory.
  3. Invite varied answers—waters in his hand, mountains on scales, the circle of the earth, princes brought to nothing (40:12-23). Each image dethrones our small idols and lifts our eyes to the incomparable God.
  4. God answers not with rebuke but with revelation: the everlasting Creator does not faint, his understanding is unsearchable, and he gives power to the weak (40:28-29). Our sense of being overlooked meets the reality of a tireless, attentive God.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Encourage members to name a specific weariness and one practical way of waiting on God—prayer, Scripture, rest, worship. Point them to Christ, in whom the strength of God meets our weakness.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.