Isaiah 40:28 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 40:28
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.
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
heard
שָׁמַ֗עְתָּsha.Ma'.ta
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
everlasting
עוֹלָ֤םo.Lam
H5769
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
God
אֱלֹהֵ֨י'e.lo.Hei
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Creator
בּוֹרֵא֙bo.Re'
H1254
(absolutely) to create · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
ends
קְצ֣וֹתke.Tzot
H7098
a termination · noun, common feminine plural construct
earth
הָאָ֔רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
fainteth
יִיעַ֖ףyi.'Af
H3286
to tire (as if from wearisome flight) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
weary
יִיגָ֑עyi.Ga'
H3021
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
searching
חֵ֖קֶרChe.ker
H2714
examination · noun, common masculine singular absolute
understanding
לִתְבוּנָתֽוֹlit.vu.na.To
H8394
intelligence · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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
Romans 11:33-34 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Psalms 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
1 Timothy 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Isaiah 40:21 Have 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…
1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Genesis 21:33 And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:27–end
Here, I. The prophet reproves the people of God, who are now supposed to be captives in Babylon for their unbelief and distrust of God, and the dejections and despondencies of their spirit under their affliction (Isa 40:27): "Why sayest thou, O Jacob! to thyself and to those about thee, My way is hidden from the Lord? Why dost thou make hard and melancholy conclusions concerning thyself and thy present case as if the latter were desperate?" 1. The titles he here gives them were enough to shame them out of their distrusts: O Jacob! O Israel! Let them remember whence they took these names - from one who had found God faithful to him and kind in all his straits; and why they bore these names -…
known--by thine own observation and reading of Scripture.
heard--from tradition of the fathers.
everlasting, &c.--These attributes of Jehovah ought to inspire His afflicted people with confidence.
no searching of his understanding--therefore thy cause cannot, as thou sayest, escape His notice; though much in His ways is unsearchable, He cannot err (Job 11:7-9). He is never "faint" or "weary" with having the countless wants of His people ever before Him to attend to.
John Gill on Isaiah 40:28
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard?.... From the history of the church in all ages; from the experience of all good men; from their own knowledge and observation; from the Scriptures, and the prophets, the interpreters of them; both that what is before suggested is wrong, and that what follows is true,
that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? or, "the God of the world"; that has made it, and upholds it, and governs it, and judges righteously in it; who is from everlasting to everlasting, unchangeably the same; whose name alone is Jehovah, the self-existent and all comprehending Being, the Maker and Former of all things;…
Then he recalls the truths that he has often taught: "[I am an] eternal God." This is what the blessed Moses has also said: "I AM WHO I AM." As for the blessed David, he in his turn addresses himself to him in these terms: "But you, Lord, endure forever, and your remembrance to generation and generation." Or again: "But you are the same, and your years shall not fail."
If they shall assign the toil of making all things as the reason why God only made the Son, the whole creation will cry out against them as saying unworthy things of God; and Isaiah, too, who has said in Scripture, "The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint, neither is he weary: there is no searching of his understanding." And if God made the Son alone, as not lowering himself to make the rest but committed them to the Son as an assistant, this on the other hand is unworthy of God, for in him there is no pride. No, the Lord reproves the thought when he says, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?" … If then it is not unworthy of God to exercise his providence, even down to things so small, a hair of the head and a sparrow and the grass of the field, also it was not unworthy of him to make them. For what things are the subjects of his providence, of those he is Maker through his proper Word. No, a worse absurdity lies before the people who speak this way; for they distinguish between the creatures and the framing and consider the latter the work of the Father, the creatures the work of the Son; whereas either all things must be brought to be with the Son, or if all that is originate comes to be through the Son, we must not call him one of the originated things.
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…
Anthropomorphisms · .Does not faint — .Does not faint
Blindness · 21:14;22:13,14; — 21:14;22:13,14;
Christ Is God · As Creator of all things — As Creator of all things
Creation · Exhibits: The power of God — Exhibits: The power of God
Doubting · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
God · Is declared to be: Unsearchable — Is declared to be: Unsearchable
Wisdom Of God, The · Described as: Unsearchable — Described as: Unsearchable
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).
on Isaiah 40:28
Hast thou not known? He repeats the same statement which he had formerly made, that the people who had been carefully taught in the school of God were inexcusable for their slothfulness, and chides them sharply for not having profited more by the doctrine of the Law, and by the other means which God had bestowed in addition to that knowledge which they possessed in common with the Gentiles. The word know, which is more general, is put first; because by many miracles and other proofs God had manifested his glory. Next, he asks, Hast thou not heard? As if he had said, "If thou hast profited nothing by being taught by actions and by word that God is never unemployed, it is evident that thou are…
The groundlessness of such despondency is set before them in a double question. "Is it not known to thee, or hast thou not heard, an eternal God is Jehovah, Creator of the ends of the earth: He fainteth not, neither becomes weary; His understanding is unsearchable." Those who are so desponding ought to know, if not from their own experience, at least from information that had been handed down, that Jehovah, who created the earth from one end to the other, so that even Babylonian was not beyond the range of His vision or the domain of His power, was an eternal God, i.e., a God eternally the same and never varying, who still possessed and manifested the power which He had displayed in the crea…
heard . . . understood: Cp. 40:21. • the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth: Creation reveals God’s power and wisdom. He is also the Creator of the age to come, a world of righteousness, justice, and peace (45:8; 48:6-7; 65:17-18). • He never grows weak or weary: God is not susceptible to human limitations.
Rashi on Isaiah 40:28
the Creator of the ends of the earth...there is no fathoming His understanding And One who has such strength and such wisdom—He knows the thoughts. Why does He delay your benefit, only to terminate the transgression and to expiate the sin through afflictions.
