Isaiah 40:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 40:2
Speak 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.
perhaps properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
comfortably
לֵ֤בlev
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct
Jerusalem
יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ye.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · proper noun, a place name
cry
וְקִרְא֣וּve.kir.'U
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
warfare
צְבָאָ֔הּtze.va.'Ah
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
accomplished
מָֽלְאָה֙mal.'Ah
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
iniquity
עֲוֹנָ֑הּ'a.vo.Nah
H5771
perversity · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
pardoned
נִרְצָ֖הnir.Tzah
H7521
to be pleased with · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
received
לָקְחָה֙la.ke.Chah
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
LORD’s
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hand
מִיַּ֣דmi.Yad
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
double
כִּפְלַ֖יִםkif.La.yim
H3718
a duplicate · noun, common masculine dual absolute
sins
חַטֹּאתֶֽיהָcha.to.Tei.ha
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
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
Zechariah 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
Isaiah 61:7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the d…
Hosea 2:14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
Jeremiah 33:8-9 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they h…
Revelation 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
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…
comfortably--literally, "to the heart"; not merely to the intellect.
Jerusalem--Jerusalem though then in ruins, regarded by God as about to be rebuilt; her people are chiefly meant, but the city is personified.
cry--publicly and emphatically as a herald cries aloud (Isa 40:3).
warfare--or, the appointed time of her misery (Job 7:1, Margin; Job 14:14; Dan 10:1). The ulterior and Messianic reference probably is the definite time when the legal economy of burdensome rites is at an end (Gal 4:3-4).
pardoned--The Hebrew expresses that her iniquity is so expiated that God now delights in restoring her.
double for all her sins--This can only, in a very restricted sense, hold good of Judah…
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,.... Or, "speak to or according to the heart of Jerusalem (h)"; to her very heart, what will be a cordial to her, very acceptable, grateful, and comfortable; and let it be proclaimed aloud, that she may hear and understand it. By "Jerusalem" is meant the Gospel church, and the true members of it. Aben Ezra interprets it of the congregation of Israel; see Hebrews 12:22,
that her warfare is accomplished; this life is a warfare; saints have many enemies to engage with, sin, Satan, and the world; many battles to fight, a great fight of afflictions, and the good fight of faith: this is "accomplished", or "filled up (i)"; not that it is at an en…
The Church Fathers
How is it that some receive at the Lord's hand double for their sins and the measure of their wickedness is doubly filled up, as in the correction of Israel, while the sins of others are removed by a sevenfold compensation? What is the measure of the Amorites that is not yet full? And how is the sinner either acquitted or chastised again, acquitted perhaps, because reserved for the other world, chastised because healed thereby in this?
There is also another type of consolation for those who have paid heavy penalties, as it is written in the book of Isaiah: 'Comfort, comfort my people,' says the Lord. 'Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.' Even if faith was lacking, punishment was satisfied. The penalties are mitigated for those who are acquitted by commendation of their merits.
The God of the universe has left the king aside to invite the priests to give courage back to Jerusalem, as if the chastisement with which it had been threatened had already occurred. This is made clear in the passage to follow: "Comfort [Jerusalem], for its humiliation is accomplished." The words of the threat have received a perfect accomplishment. "[Its] sin is put away: for it has received of the Lord's hand double the amount of its sins." It is worthwhile to admire the kindness of the Master at this point: because he is good and his compassion is unfathomable, and although he inflicted a punishment less than equal to the sin, he says, by reason of great benevolence, that this lesser punishment is double the amount of the sin. Now that the chastisement was less than the sin, the same prophet has cried in testimony: "Your chastening was to us with small affliction." Nevertheless, because he tempers his justice with infinite mercy, the lesson that the victims of the chastisement call small, the judge has called double [the amount of the sin]. Then he teaches the comforters the means of comfort.
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).
Speak ye according to the heart of Jerusalem. Here God commands his servants the prophets, and lays down the message which he wishes them to deliver publicly, when believers shall be called to change their strain from mourning to joy. And yet he does not exhort and encourage them to the cheerful and courageous discharge of their office, so much as he conveys to the minds of believers an assured hope that they may patiently endure the irksomeness of delay, till the prophets appear with this glad and delightful message. To speak to the heart [107] is nothing else than "to speak according to the wish or sentiment of the mind;" for our heart abhors or recoils if any sad intelligence is communica…
The summons is now repeated with still greater emphasis, the substance of the consoling proclamation being also given. "Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her affliction is ended, that her debt is paid, that she has received from the hand of Jehovah double for all her sins." The holy city is thought of here in connection with the population belonging to it. על־לב דּבּר (to speak to the heart) is an expression applied in Gen 34:3 and Jdg 19:3 to words adapted to win the heart; in Gen 50:21, to the words used by Joseph to inspire his brethren with confidence; whilst here it is used in precisely the same sense as in Hos 2:16, and possibly not without a reminiscence of th…
Speak tenderly: The prophet’s message was to encourage Jerusalem with the good news of God’s forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration. • From the prophetic perspective, Israel’s sad days are gone because the Exile is over. • punished her twice over for all her sins: Israel experienced the full brunt of God’s wrath (51:19-23; cp. 61:7).
Rashi on Isaiah 40:2
for she has become full [from] her host Jonathan renders: She is destined to become full from the people of the exiles, as though it would say, “She has become full from her host.” Others interpret צְבָאָה like (Job 7:1), “Is there not a time (צָבָא) for man on the earth?”
has been appeased Heb. נִרְצָה, has been appeased.
for she has taken etc. [Jonathan paraphrases:] For she has received a cup of consolation from before the Lord as though she has been punished doubly for all her sins. According to its simple meaning, it is possible to explain, ‘for she received double punishment.’ Now if you ask, how is it the standard of the Holy One, blessed be He, to pay back a person double his sin,…
