New English Translation
Isaiah 40:1
1“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
Isaiah 40:1 in other versions
Context of Isaiah 40:1
“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2“Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and tell her that her time of warfare is over, that her punishment is completed. For the Lord has made her pay double for all her sins.” 3A voice cries out, “In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord; construct in the desert a road for our God.
Read all of Isaiah 40Isaiah 40:1 word by word
נַחֲמ֥וּ נַחֲמ֖וּ עַמִּ֑י יֹאמַ֖ר אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 40:1
- Isaiah 3:10Tell the innocent it will go well with them, for they will be rewarded for what they have done.
- Isaiah 35:3Strengthen the hands that have gone limp, steady the knees that shake!
- Isaiah 41:10Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you – yes, I help you – yes, I uphold you with my saving right hand!
- Isaiah 49:13Shout for joy, O sky! Rejoice, O earth! Let the mountains give a joyful shout! For the Lord consoles his people and shows compassion to the oppressed.
- Isaiah 50:10Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys his servant? Whoever walks in deep darkness, without light, should trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
- Isaiah 51:3Certainly the Lord will console Zion; he will console all her ruins. He will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the Garden of the Lord. Happiness and joy will be restored to her, thanksgiving and the sound of music.
- Isaiah 57:15For this is what the high and exalted one says, the one who rules forever, whose name is holy: “I dwell in an exalted and holy place, but also with the discouraged and humiliated, in order to cheer up the humiliated and to encourage the discouraged.
- Isaiah 60:1“Arise! Shine! For your light arrives! The splendor of the Lord shines on you!
- Isaiah 61:1The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives, and the freeing of prisoners,
- Isaiah 62:11Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘Look, your deliverer comes! Look, his reward is with him and his reward goes before him!’”
- Isaiah 65:13So this is what the sovereign Lord says: “Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry! Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty! Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!
- Isaiah 66:10Be happy for Jerusalem and rejoice with her, all you who love her! Share in her great joy, all you who have mourned over her!
- Nehemiah 8:10He said to them, “Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the lord is your strength.”
- Psalms 85:8I will listen to what God the Lord says. For he will make peace with his people, his faithful followers. Yet they must not return to their foolish ways.
- Jeremiah 31:10Hear what the Lord has to say, O nations. Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea. Say, “The one who scattered Israel will regather them. He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.”
- Zephaniah 3:14Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! Shout out, Israel! Be happy and boast with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!
Commentaries on Isaiah 40:1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1Comfort ye, comfort ye - "The whole of this prophecy," says Kimchi, "belongs to the days of the Messiah."Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people - This is the exordium, or the general subject of this and the following chapters. The commencement is abrupt, as often happens in Isaiah and the other prophets. The scene where this vision is laid is in Babylon; the time near the close of the captivity. The topic, or main subject of the consolation, is stated in the following verse - that that captivity was about to end, and that brighter and happier days were to succeed…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1The preaching of the gospel, and glad tidings of the coming of Christ. (Is. 40:1-11) The almighty power of God. (Is. 40:12-17) The folly of idolatry. (Is. 40:18-26) Against unbelief. (Is. 40:27-31) Verses 1-11 All human life is a warfare; the Christian life is the most so; but the struggle will not last always. Troubles are removed in love, when sin is pardoned. In the great atonement of the death of Christ, the mercy of God is exercised to the glory of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-2The rest of Isaiah offers a message of comfort and reveals God's character and his plans for Israel. As Isaiah 39:6–7 predicted, Judah would face judgment and exile after Isaiah's time. Throughout Isaiah 40–66, Isaiah prophesied as if the exile in Babylon had already occurred. Thus, the Babylonian exile is the context for understanding these chapters.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-31The former were local and temporary in their reference. These belong to the distant future, and are world-wide in their interest; the deliverance from Babylon under Cyrus, which he here foretells by prophetic suggestion, carries him on to the greater deliverance under Messiah, the Saviour of Jews and Gentiles in the present eclectic Church, and the restorer of Israel and Head of the world-wide kingdom, literal and spiritual, ultimately. As Assyria was the…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 40:1
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 40
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries