Isaiah · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Isaiah 40 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith God.
1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
2 Speak, ye priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord’s hand double [the amount of] her sins.
2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.
3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
4 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and all the crooked [ways] shall become straight, and the rough [places] plains.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall appear, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: for the Lord has spoken [it].
5 Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
6 The voice of one saying, Cry; and I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
6 The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, and the flower fades:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.
8 but the word of our God abides forever.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
9 O thou that bringest glad tidings to Zion, go up on the high mountain; lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest glad tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, fear not; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
9 You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
10 Behold the Lord! The Lord is coming with strength, and [his] arm is with power: behold, his reward is with him, and [his] work before him.
10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He shall tend his flock as a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall soothe them that are with young.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
12 Who has measured the water in his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth in a handful? Who has weighed the mountains in scales, and the forests in a balance?
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has known the mind of the Lord? and who has been his counselor, to instruct him?
13 Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
14 Or with whom has he taken counsel, and he has instructed him? or who has taught him judgment, or who has taught him the way of understanding;
14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
15 since all the nations are counted as a drop from a bucket, and as the turning of a balance, [and] shall be counted as spittle?
15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor all beasts enough for a whole burnt offering:
16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 and all the nations are as nothing, and counted as nothing.
17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom have ye compared the Lord? and with what likeness have ye compared him?
18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19 Has not the artificer made an image, or the goldsmith having melted gold, gilded it over, [and] made it a similitude?
19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20 For the artificer chooses out a wood that will not rot, and will wisely inquire how he shall set up his image, and [that so] that it should not be moved.
20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
21 Will ye not know? will ye not hear? has it not been told you of old? Have ye not known the foundations of the earth?
21 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 [It is] he that comprehends the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in it are as grasshoppers; he that set up the heaven as a chamber, and stretched [it] out as a tent to dwell in:
22 It 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,
23 he that appoints princes to rule as nothing, and has made the earth as nothing.
23 who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24 For they shall not plant, neither shall they sow, neither shall their root be fixed in the ground: he has blown upon them, and they are withered, and a storm shall carry them away like sticks.
24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25 Now then to whom have ye compared me, that I may be exalted? saith the Holy One.
25 “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see, who has displayed all these things? [even] he that brings forth his host by number: he shall call them all by name by [means of his] great glory, and by the power of his might: nothing has escaped thee.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
27 For say not thou, O Jacob, and why hast thou spoken, Israel, [saying], My way is hidden from God, and my God has taken away [my] judgment, and has departed?
27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?
28 And now, hast thou not known? hast thou not heard? the eternal God, the God that formed the ends of the earth, shall not hunger, nor be weary, and there is no searching of his understanding.
28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives strength to the hungry, and sorrow to them that are not suffering.
29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30 For the young [men] shall hunger, and the youths shall be weary, and the choice [men] shall be powerless:
30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
31 but they that wait on God shall renew [their] strength; they shall put forth new feathers like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not hunger.
31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
Cross references (31)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 1:4; Isaiah 51:12; Isaiah 51:3; Zephaniah 3:14–17; Zechariah 1:13
- 2 Zechariah 9:12; Isaiah 61:7; Hosea 2:14; Jeremiah 33:8–9; Revelation 18:6
- 3 Malachi 3:1; Mark 1:2–5; John 1:23; Matthew 3:1–3; Luke 1:16–17
- 4 Luke 3:5; Ezekiel 21:26; Luke 18:14; Isaiah 42:15–16; Isaiah 45:2
- 5 Habakkuk 2:14; Isaiah 52:10; Joel 2:28; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Luke 3:6
- 6 Psalm 103:15–16; 1 Peter 1:24–25; Psalm 102:11; James 1:10–11; Job 14:2
- 7 Job 41:21
- 8 Mark 13:31; Matthew 24:35; 1 Peter 1:25; Psalm 119:89–91; Matthew 5:18
- 9 Isaiah 52:7–8; Ephesians 6:19; Isaiah 12:2; Isaiah 25:9; Isaiah 61:1
- 10 Revelation 22:12; Isaiah 62:11; Revelation 17:14; Matthew 28:18; Isaiah 49:4
- 11 Revelation 7:17; Psalm 23:1–6; Micah 5:4; Ezekiel 34:23; John 10:11–16
- 12 Proverbs 30:4; Hebrews 1:10–12; Psalm 102:25–26; Job 38:4–11; Isaiah 48:13
- 13 1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 11:34; Job 36:22–23; Job 21:22; Luke 10:22
- 14 Job 21:22; Colossians 2:3; 1 Corinthians 12:4–6; James 1:17
- 15 Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 40:22; Job 34:14–15; Isaiah 29:5; Isaiah 11:11
- 16 Micah 6:6–7; Psalm 50:9–12; Psalm 40:6; Hebrews 10:5–10
- 17 Psalm 62:9; Daniel 4:34–35; Isaiah 29:7
- 18 Isaiah 46:5; 1 Samuel 2:2; Isaiah 40:25; Exodus 15:11; Acts 17:29
- 19 Jeremiah 10:9; Isaiah 46:6–7; Exodus 32:2–4; Habakkuk 2:18–19; Psalm 115:4–8
- 20 Jeremiah 10:3–4; Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 46:7; Isaiah 2:8–9; Daniel 5:23
- 21 Isaiah 46:8; Isaiah 48:13; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:19–21; Psalm 50:6
- 22 Proverbs 8:27; Isaiah 42:5; Psalm 104:2; Isaiah 66:1; Jeremiah 10:12
- 23 Psalm 107:40; Job 12:21; Jeremiah 25:18–27; Isaiah 34:12; Isaiah 24:21–22
- 24 Isaiah 41:16; Isaiah 17:13; Jeremiah 23:19; Haggai 1:9; Proverbs 1:27
- 25 Isaiah 40:18; Deuteronomy 4:15–18; Deuteronomy 4:33; Deuteronomy 5:8
- 26 Colossians 1:16–17; Jeremiah 32:17–19; Isaiah 48:13; Isaiah 51:6; Psalm 147:4–5
- 27 Isaiah 49:4; Luke 18:7–8; Isaiah 49:14; Job 27:2
- 28 Romans 11:33–34; Psalm 147:5; 1 Timothy 1:17; Isaiah 55:8–9; Philippians 1:6
- 29 Isaiah 41:10; Philippians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Colossians 1:11; Zechariah 10:12
- 30 Amos 2:14; Psalm 34:10; Psalm 33:16; Ecclesiastes 9:11; Isaiah 9:17
- 31 Lamentations 3:25–26; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Psalm 27:13–14; Psalm 103:5; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And thus He forewarns us: "Behold, the Lord [cometh], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work." He exhorts us, therefore, with our whole heart to attend to this, that we be not lazy or slothful in any good work.
Ye have heard "that the heavens are meted out in the palm of [His] hand:" tell me the measure, and recount the endless multitude of cubits, explain to me the fulness, the breadth, the length, the height, the beginning and end of the measurement,--things which the heart of man understands not, neither does it comprehend them.
Because the scroll shall be rolled together, and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever, which now appeareth unto us in the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the heavens, not as it is; because we also, although we be the well-beloved of Thy …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
Thus the prophet saith that he shall come saying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." And he himself when he was come said, "Bring forth fruits meet for repentance," which corresponds with, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Seest thou that both by the words of the prophet, and by his own preaching, this …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
For the voice is heard of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)