Isaiah 40 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s People Are Comforted

The Majesty of the LORD

(cf. Luke 3:4–6 )

Isa 40:1“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.

Isa 40:2“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the LORD’s hand
Double for all her sins.”

Isa 40:3

Isa 40:3The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make straight in the desert[fn]
A highway for our God.

Isa 40:4

Isa 40:4Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;

Isa 40:5

Isa 40:5The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Isa 40:6

Isa 40:6The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he[fn] said, “What shall I cry?”

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

Isa 40:7

Isa 40:7The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.

Isa 40:8

Isa 40:8The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”

Isa 40:9

Isa 40:9O 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!”

Isa 40:10

Isa 40:10Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.

Isa 40:11

Isa 40:11He 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.

Isa 40:12

Isa 40:12Who has measured the waters[fn] in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?

Isa 40:13

Isa 40:13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?

Isa 40:14

Isa 40:14With 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?

Isa 40:15

Isa 40:15Behold, 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.

Isa 40:16

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

Isa 40:17

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

Isa 40:18

Isa 40:18To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

Isa 40:19

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

Isa 40:20

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

Isa 40:21

Isa 40:21Have 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?

Isa 40:22

Isa 40:22It 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.

Isa 40:23

Isa 40:23He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

Isa 40:24

Isa 40:24Scarcely 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.

Isa 40:25

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

Isa 40:26

Isa 40:26Lift 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.

Isa 40:27

Isa 40:27Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?

Isa 40:28

Isa 40:28Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.

Isa 40:29

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

Isa 40:30

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

Isa 40:31

Isa 40:31But those who wait on the LORD
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.

See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NKJV Footnotes

(40:3)

Following Masoretic Text, Targum, and Vulgate; Septuagint omits in the desert.

(40:6)

Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, and Vulgate read I.

(40:12)

Following Masoretic Text, Septuagint, and Vulgate; Dead Sea Scrolls read waters of the sea; Targum reads waters of the world.

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For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

Isaiah Chapter 40 — Additional Translations:

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Isaiah 40 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

NKJV Footnotes

Isaiah Chapter 40 — Additional Translations:

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