- 1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
- 2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
- 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
- 4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
- 5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
- 6The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
- 7The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
- 8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
- 9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
- 10Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
- 11He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
- 12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- 13Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
- 14With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
- 15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
- 16And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
- 17All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
- 18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
- 19The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
- 20He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
- 21Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
- 22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
- 23That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
- 24Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
- 25To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
- 26Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
- 27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
- 28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
- 29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
- 30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
- 31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
KING JAMES VERSION
ISAIAH 40
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Isaiah 40 — Comfort is proclaimed, a way is prepared, the incomparable Creator shepherds His flock, and those who wait renew their strength.
About this illustration
Highway, shepherd, fading grass, stars, and eagle combine the chapter’s consolation. God is never pictured bodily; scale and light express His incomparable power.
Scripture basis: Isaiah 40:1–31King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGEANCIENT TEXT CONNECTIONS 
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Related 1 Enoch Passages
These links distinguish direct quotation, explicit retelling, strong literary parallel, and broader shared tradition. A parallel does not by itself prove direct dependence.
Several prophets picture the Lord advancing in glory while creation trembles; 1 Enoch gathers the same theophanic imagery into its opening oracle.
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Third century BC–first century AD
Dead Sea Scrolls and the Great Isaiah Scroll
The Great Isaiah Scroll is an almost complete Hebrew copy of Isaiah from about 125 BC. Its fifty-four columns preserve all sixty-six chapters and let readers compare a Second Temple-period biblical manuscript directly with the later Masoretic tradition.
Isaiah 7:14 · Isaiah 9:6–7 · Isaiah 11:1–10
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Third century AD
Chester Beatty Biblical Papyrus VII: Greek Isaiah
Rahlfs 965 preserves thirty-six papyrus leaves and related fragments from an early-third-century Greek Isaiah codex, documenting broad circulation of the prophetic book in Christian Egypt.
Isaiah 11:1–12 · Isaiah 40:1–11 · Isaiah 60:1–22
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
3rd century
Papyrus P119: John 1:21–28 and 1:38–44
Papyrus P119, P.Oxy. LXXI 4803, is a late-third-century Greek papyrus codex fragment from Oxyrhynchus preserving John 1:21–28 and 1:38–44, from John the Baptist's interrogation to the first disciples' encounter with Jesus and Philip's call.
John 1:21–28 · John 1:38–44 · Isaiah 40:3
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCESettlement
Second century BC–first century AD, with earlier Iron Age remains
Qumran Settlement Archaeology
The excavated settlement at Qumran preserves communal buildings, ritual baths, water systems, pottery, coins, cemeteries, and installations beside the scroll-bearing caves.
Matthew 3:1–12 · Acts 2:42–47 · Isaiah 40:3
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
late 1st century BC to early 1st century AD, palaeographic estimate
1QIsaiah b (1Q8): The Second Isaiah Scroll
The second Isaiah manuscript from Qumran Cave 1 preserves substantial fragments across the book and provides an independent Hebrew witness distinct from the nearly complete Great Isaiah Scroll.
Isaiah 40:1–5 · Isaiah 53:1–12 · Isaiah 65:17–25
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArtifact
surviving copy probably seventh-sixth century BC; composition no earlier than the ninth century BC
The Babylonian Map of the World
A cuneiform tablet from Sippar that places Babylon and the Euphrates within a circular world bounded by the cosmic sea. Its map and accompanying text preserve a learned Babylonian geography relevant to exile-era biblical context, not a biblical map.
Genesis 10:1–32 · Genesis 11:1–9 · Isaiah 40:22
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In Part 2 of The World You Live In, Pastor Dean Odle continues his argument that Christians should test inherited descriptions of creation against Scripture rather than accept institutional consensus as final authority. Beginning with worship and prayer, he develops a reconstruction or gap reading of Genesis 1:1-2, connects the earth becoming "without form, and void" with prophetic language in Jeremiah and Isaiah, and treats Satan's fall as part of the background to the ruined condition he sees before the six days of ordering.
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In “Under Attack (Part 2),” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about the authority of Scripture, eternal life and hope, biblical creation. Drawing especially from Job 38:14, Job 38, Isaiah 44:24, Psalm 136, the teaching emphasizes that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that the promise of eternal life directs believers toward hope, holiness, and perseverance in Christ.
Doctrine and DiscernmentScripture AloneBiblical CreationSpiritual Warfare
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Music
Escaping the Matrix
A Watchman 33 release centered on stepping away from deception and returning to truth.