Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
Isaiah 40 is the turn. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah are dominated by judgment: the prosecution of a covenant-breaking nation, the announcement of Babylonian exile, the exposure of every false alliance and false god. Then chapter 40 opens: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The doubled imperative of consolation.
The warfare is accomplished. The iniquity is pardoned. She has received double for all her sins. The judgment is done and the account is settled. What follows is the longest sustained consolation in the OT: chapters 40-66, twenty-seven chapters of comfort, restoration, and the announcement of the servant who will accomplish what the nation could not.
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare the way of the LORD. John the Baptist will stand in the Jordan and claim this text as his own identity (John 1:23). The road-building imagery: valleys lifted, mountains lowered, crooked made straight, is the announcement that the King is coming and his arrival requires preparation. Thread 3 is in the road being prepared: the highway is not built by accident or by historical inevitability but by the voice of one crying, calling the people to make ready.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Kol basar, all flesh. Yachdav, together. Thread 7 is in the scope of the revelation: not for Israel only, not for the religiously prepared only. All flesh, at the same time. The shepherd who gathers lambs in his arm and gently leads nursing mothers is the same one whose arm will execute judgment in verse 10. The tenderness and the sovereignty belong to the same person.
Comfort ye, comfort ye, the double imperative of consolation after judgment, and the glory to be revealed will be seen by all flesh together; the consolation is as universal in scope as the judgment was.
נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי (nachamu nachamu ammi): comfort ye, comfort ye my people: doubled imperative of nacham (to comfort, to console, to have compassion); the doubling is urgency; ammi (my people), God's possessive establishes the relationship that makes the comfort trustworthy; the same God who administered the judgment is the one commanding the comfort · וְנִגְלָה כְּבוֹד יְהוָה וְרָאוּ כָל בָּשָׂר יַחְדָּו (ve-niglah kevod YHWH ve-rau kol basar yachdav): and the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: kol basar (all flesh, all humanity); yachdav (together, at the same time); the revelation of God's glory is not for a subset, it is for all flesh simultaneously; Thread 7 scope · כְּרֹעֶה עֶדְרוֹ יִרְעֶה (ke-roeh edro yireh): he shall feed his flock like a shepherd: roeh (shepherd, one who tends, feeds, leads); the same shepherd imagery that Ezekiel 34 will develop as the contrast between Israel's failed shepherds and the promised shepherd-king; Jesus will claim both in John 10
threads t1 · t3 · t7 · see Ezekiel 34:23 · Luke 2:30-32 · John 1:23
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13
The incomparability of God is established through a series of unanswerable questions. Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who held out the heavens with a span? Who weighed the mountains? Who directed the Spirit of the LORD or taught him anything? The questions are rhetorical but they are not decoration. They are the theological ground of the consolation that follows.
The nations are like a drop in a bucket and fine dust on the scales (verse 15). Lebanon's forests are not sufficient for altar fire; its animals not sufficient for burnt offering (verse 16). All the nations together are as nothing before him. The God who is doing the comforting in verse 1 is the God who measures the universe in his palm.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told from the beginning? The incomparability of God is not new information. It is what Israel has always been told and repeatedly forgotten. He sits on the circle of the earth; its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
And he gives power to the faint. To the one with no might, he increases strength. Not the young and strong, they faint, they stumble. But those who wait on the LORD exchange their weakness for his strength. Qavah: the expectant, active, confident waiting that is the OT's word for hope. Thread 1 is in the giving: this God does not wait for the strong. He gives strength to those who have none.
He gives power to the faint and increases strength to those who have no might: the consolation of chapters 40-66 rests on the incomparability of the one doing the consoling; the exhausted can rest because the one who renews strength does not grow tired.
וְקוֹיֵ יְהוָה יַחֲלִיפוּ כֹחַ (ve-qovei YHWH yachalifu koach): they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength: qavah (to wait, to hope, to expect with confident expectation); the waiting is not passive resignation but active, expectant trust; yachalifu (shall exchange, shall renew, the Hiphil of chalaph, meaning to change, to renew); the waiting produces an exchange: the person's weakness exchanged for God's strength
threads t1 · see Psalm 103:5 · Romans 11:33-34 · Philippians 4:13