Isaiah 40:1

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Comfort	נַחֲמ֥וּ na.cha.Mu	H5162	properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
comfort	נַחֲמ֖וּ na.cha.Mu	H5162	properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
people	עַמִּ֑י 'a.Mi	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
saith	יֹאמַ֖ר yo.Mar	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
God	אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם 'e.lo.hei.Khem	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselve…
Isaiah 51:12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall…
Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the ga…
Zephaniah 3:14-17 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 31:10-14 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep h…
Zechariah 1:13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Isaiah 49:13-16 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have me…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:1-2

We have here the commission and instructions given, not to this prophet only, but, with him, to all the Lord's prophets, nay, and to all Christ's ministers, to proclaim comfort to God's people. 1. This did not only warrant, but enjoin, this prophet himself to encourage the good people who lived in his own time, who could not but have very melancholy apprehensions of things when they saw Judah and Jerusalem by their daring impieties ripening apace for ruin, and God in his providence hastening ruin upon them. Let them be sure that, notwithstanding all this, God had mercy in store for them. 2. It was especially a direction to the prophets that should live in the time of captivity, when Jerusale…

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John Gill on Isaiah 40:1

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. The Babylonish captivity being predicted in the preceding chapter, for the comfort of God's people a deliverance is promised, expressed in such terms, as in the clearest and strongest manner to set forth the redemption and salvation by Jesus Christ, of which it was typical. Here begins the more evangelical and spiritual part of this prophecy, which reaches to and includes the whole Gospel dispensation, from the coming of John the Baptist to the second coming of Christ. It begins with comforts, and holds on and ends with them; which consolations, Kimchi observes, are what should be in the times of the Messiah; and the word "comfort" is repeate…

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John Calvin on Isaiah 40:1

Comfort ye. The Prophet introduces a new subject; for, leaving the people on whom no favorable impression was made either by threatenings or by admonitions, on account of their desperate wickedness, he turns to posterity, in order to declare that the people who shall be humbled under the cross will experience no want of consolation even amidst the severest distresses. And it is probable that he wrote this prophecy when the time of the captivity was at hand, that he might not at his departure from life leave the Church of God overwhehned by very grievous calamities, without the hope of restoration. Though he formerly mingled his predictions with threatenings and terrors for this purpose, yet…

The Church Fathers

Hezekiah offered prayers to God because he had been told that death was imminent, but he failed to pray that evil should be averted from his descendants. Hence Isaiah says, "Comfort, comfort my people, you priests."
— Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 40:1

God did not approve of Hezekiah's proposal. The fact that he mentioned only himself in his prayer and not the people was blameworthy. That is why the prophet says in what follows, "Comfort my people, says the Lord."
— Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:15

Hezekiah was at a loss for a defense. Since he could offer no excuse for his crimes, he said that God's word was good, even though it foretold things that should have made him shed tears. Then he asks for peace in his own days, bidding goodbye, as it were, to those who were to come after him and thereby neglecting his native land, his own city and his own race. But it would have been better for him to be sorry for the things that had been predicted and to ask God for mercy and happiness (not temporary and restricted) on behalf of those to come after him.
— Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 3:4.40:1

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah, The Book of — Consists of prophecies delivered (Isa. 1) in the reign of Uzziah (1-5), (2) of Jotham (6), (3) Ahaz (7-14:28), (4) the first half of Hezekiah’s reign (14:28-35), (5) the second half of Hezekiah’s…
Affliction, Consolation Under · By ministers of the gospel — By ministers of the gospel
Pardon · Ministers are appointed to proclaim — Ministers are appointed to proclaim

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Isaiah 40:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:1-2

John Gill on Isaiah 40:1

John Calvin on Isaiah 40:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 40:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:1-2

John Gill on Isaiah 40:1

John Calvin on Isaiah 40:1

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 40:1

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 40:1–end

Rashi on Isaiah 40:1