Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Isaiah 40:

God’s People Are Comforted

Isaiah 40:¹ “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God (‘ĕlōhîm).

Isaiah 40:² “Speak comfort (Lit. to the heart of) to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity (sin) is pardoned;
For she has received froJm the Lord’s (Yᵊhōvâ) hand
Double for all her sins.”

Isaiah 40:³ The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ);
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God (‘ĕlōhîm).

@Prophecy Alert. Fulfilled by John the Baptist during the time of Jesus.
Matthew 3:3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ”

Isaiah 40:⁴ Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight (Or: a plain)
And the rough places smooth;

@Prophecy Alert. To be fulfilled at Jesus’ return to the earth.

• ^{Ezekiel 38:20 so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’}
• ^{Micah 1:4 The mountains will melt under Him, And the valleys will split Like wax before the fire, Like waters poured down a steep place.}
• ^{Nahum 1:5 The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it.}
• ^{Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.}
• ^{Psalm 97:5 The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.}
• ^{Zechariah 14:4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.}

Isaiah 40:⁵ The glory of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) has spoken.”

Isaiah 40:⁶ The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he (or: I) said, “What shall I cry?”

“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

Isaiah 40:⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.

• The Breath of God:
  1. Takes Life (Isaiah 40:7) (Isaiah 11:4)
  2. Gives Life (Ezekiel 37:9, Genesis 2:7)
  3. Snorts in Anger (2 Samuel 22:16)
  4. Makes Judgments (Isaiah 30:28) (Daniel 5:23)
  Isaiah 40:⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades,
  But the word of our God (‘ĕlōhîm) stands forever.”

Isaiah 40:⁹ O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God (‘ĕlōhîm)!”

Isaiah 40:¹⁰ Behold, the Lord (‘ăḏōnāy) God (yᵊhōvâ)
shall come with a strong hand (in strength),
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work (recompense) before Him.

Isaiah 40:¹¹ He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.

Isaiah 40:¹² Who has measured the waters (of the sea or of the world) in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span (A span = .5 cubit, or 9 inches; or the width of His hand)
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?

Isaiah 40:¹³ Who has directed the Spirit (rûaḥ) of the Lord (yᵊhōvâ) ,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?

Isaiah 40:¹⁴ With whom did He take counsel,
and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?

Isaiah 40:¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

Isaiah 40:¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.

Isaiah 40:¹⁷ All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

Isaiah 40:¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God (‘ēl)?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

Isaiah 40:¹⁹ The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.

• There is insanity in giving a dead thing the power over the living.

Isaiah 40:²⁰ Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution (an offering)
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.

Isaiah 40:²¹ Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

Isaiah 40:²² 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.

• Isaiah was written when men believed the earth was flat but the scripture of truth superseded the science of the day.

Isaiah 40:²³ He brings (reduces) the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

Isaiah 40:²⁴ Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

Isaiah 40:²⁵ “To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.

Isaiah 40:²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

Isaiah 40:²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ),
And my just claim is passed over by my God (‘ĕlōhîm”)?

Isaiah 40:²⁸ Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God (‘ĕlōhîm), the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ),
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.

Isaiah 40:²⁹ He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.

Isaiah 40:³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,

Isaiah 40:³¹ But those who wait on the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ)
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

• The “Wings of Eagles” is a supernatural event.
  • Revelation 12:14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
  • Deuteronomy 32:10-12 “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple (pupil) of His eye. (Like the teacher’s pet). ¹¹ As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, ¹² So the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him.