Isaiah · 31 verses
Isaiah 40
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The proposed offering is so vast that Lebanon itself, with all its animals, cannot furnish the fuel and sacrifice. The chapter is not shy of a large comparison: nations become dust, rulers become nothing, and the heavens are spread out like a tent.
Comfort, and a road through the wildernessvv. 1–11
The chapter opens with comfort spoken twice, then sends a tender message to Jerusalem: the forced labor is finished, the iniquity pardoned, though the reason for the “double” remains unexplained. A voice calls for a highway through the desert, with valleys lifted and hills lowered, until the glory of the LORD is visible to all humanity. Then the scale changes from roadworks to grass: people wither, flowers fall, but the word of God remains. Jerusalem and Zion are told to raise the news without fear: “Here is your God!” He comes with might, yet tends the flock like a shepherd, carrying lambs close to his heart.
The maker, the idol, and the very large offeringvv. 12–26
A succession of questions measures the world in the hollow of a hand, the span of a hand, a basket, and a scale. Nations are reduced to a drop, a speck, and fine dust; even Lebanon cannot supply enough fuel or animals for a burnt offering. Against this grandeur, the idol is introduced as a piece of workmanship: wood must not rot, a craftsman must be skilled, and the finished object must not topple. Meanwhile the LORD sits above the circle of the earth, calls the stars by name, and makes princes and rulers disappear like stubble in a whirlwind.
The complaint of Jacob and Israelvv. 27–31
Jacob and Israel say that their way is hidden and their claim ignored. The reply begins with the same old pair of questions—“Do you not know? Have you not heard?”—and describes an everlasting Creator who does not grow tired or weary. The weary receive power, the weak receive strength, though even youths stumble and fall. Those who wait upon the LORD are given a rather magnificent mode of transport: wings like eagles, followed by running and walking that do not fail.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Isa 40:1“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
Isa 40:2“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”
Isa 40:3A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
Isa 40:4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.
Isa 40:5And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Isa 40:6A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
Isa 40:7The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
Isa 40:8The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Isa 40:9Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
Isa 40:10Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.
Isa 40:11He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
Isa 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?
Isa 40:13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
Isa 40:14Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?
Isa 40:15Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
Isa 40:16Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.
Isa 40:17All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
Isa 40:18To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?
Isa 40:19To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
Isa 40:20One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.
Isa 40:21Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?
Isa 40:22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
Isa 40:23He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.
Isa 40:24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.
Isa 40:25“To whom will you liken Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
Isa 40:26Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
Isa 40:27Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?
Isa 40:28Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.
Isa 40:29He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
Isa 40:30Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
Isa 40:31But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 469 passages were voted onto 31 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 31Lamentations 3:25–26The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
- 312 Corinthians 4:16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
- 31Psalms 27:13–14Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
- 31Psalms 103:5who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- 31Hebrews 12:1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.
- 31Galatians 6:9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- 31Romans 8:25But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.
- 31Isaiah 30:18Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.
- 31Luke 18:1Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:
- 3Malachi 3:1“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- 3Mark 1:2–5As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”
- 31Exodus 19:4‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
- 8Mark 13:31Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- 31Revelation 2:3Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
- 3John 1:23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
- 29Isaiah 41:10Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
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