a gorge (from its lofty sides · noun, common both genders singular absolute
exalted
יִנָּשֵׂ֔אyi.na.Se'
H5375
to lift · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
mountain
הַ֥רhar
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hill
וְגִבְעָ֖הve.giv.'Ah
H1389
a hillock · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
low
יִשְׁפָּ֑לוּyish.Pa.lu
H8213
to depress or sink (expectation figuratively · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
crooked
הֶֽעָקֹב֙he.'a.Ko
H6121
(transitive) fraudulent or (intransitive) tracked · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
straight
לְמִישׁ֔וֹרle.mi.Shor
H4334
a level · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
places
וְהָרְכָסִ֖יםve.ha.re.kha.Sim
H7406
a mountain ridge (as of tied summits) · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
plain
לְבִקְעָֽהle.vik.'Ah
H1237
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
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
Luke 3:5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways s…
Ezekiel 21:26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is…
Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he tha…
Isaiah 42:15-16 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
Isaiah 45:2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Ezekiel 17:24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the gree…
Job 40:11-13 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
Psalms 113:7-8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 40:3-8
The time to favour Zion, yea, the set time, having come, the people of God must be prepared, by repentance and faith, for the favours designed them; and, in order to call them to both these, we have here the voice of one crying in the wilderness, which may be applied to those prophets who were with the captives in their wilderness-state, and who, when they saw the day of their deliverance dawn, called earnestly upon them to prepare for it, and assured them that all the difficulties which stood in the way of their deliverance should be got over. It is a good sign that mercy is preparing for us if we find God's grace preparing us for it, Psa 10:17. But it must be applied to John the Baptist; f…
Eastern monarchs send heralds before them in a journey to clear away obstacles, make causeways over valleys, and level hills. So John's duty was to bring back the people to obedience to the law and to remove all self-confidence, pride in national privileges, hypocrisy, and irreligion, so that they should be ready for His coming (Mal 4:6; Luk 1:17).
crooked--declivities.
John Gill on Isaiah 40:4
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,.... Which is not to be understood literally, but, as Kimchi says, parabolically and mystically: the meaning is, that in consequence of John's ministry, and our Lord's coming, such who were depressed and bowed down with the guilt of sin, and were low and humble in their own eyes, should be raised up and comforted; and that such who were elated with themselves, and their own righteousness, should be humbled; their pride and haughtiness should be brought down, and they treated with neglect and contempt, while great notice was taken of lowly minded ones; see Luke 14:11 and Luke 18:14,
and the crooked shall be straight…
Every valley shall be exalted. He confirms and asserts the preceding statement; for he shews that no difficulties can prevent the Lord from delivering and restoring his Church whenever he shall think fit. These words might with propriety be rendered in the imperative mood, "Let every valley be exalted," [111] so as to be placed in immediate connection with the command which God gives by his prophets to prepare and level the way for himself; but it makes hardly any difference in the meaning. Let us be satisfied with understanding the Prophet's design, "that, although many and formidable difficulties are started to hinder the salvation of the Church, still the hand of God will be victorious an…
The Church Fathers
It is said that the valleys are filled, because the Lord has entered the world, and has redeemed all the peoples from the bondage of the devil, and brought them back to the faith and adoration of their Creator and has taught them to hope in eternal salvation. This is also said, because he has filled the deep valleys and the horrible and inhospitable caves with ascetics, who, after abandoning the cares of this world, exclusively devote themselves to honor and praise God.
He has clearly shown by these terms the facility of the evangelical proclamation: thanks to this facility, in a short time it filled the whole world. One should understand by "filled valleys" and "mountains and hills brought low" that literally it relates to a way that is level and cleared of all obstacles, but in a figurative sense, the souls of the unbelievers are the valleys, those who are lying in some way at the bottom of a pit and who do not have the intelligence to turn toward the heavens, while the mountains and the hills are the demons who are worshiped on the mountains and on the hills, whose deceit has been ended by the incarnation of our Savior.
According to the plain teaching of the Lord, the king's highway is easy and smooth, though it may be felt as hard and rough. For those who piously and faithfully serve him, when they have taken on them the yoke of the Lord and have learned of him, that he is meek and lowly of heart, at once [they] somehow or other lay aside the burden of earthly passions and find no labor but rest for their souls, by the gift of the Lord. [To this] he himself testifies by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Stand on the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk in it: and you shall find refreshment for your souls." For to them at once "the crooked shall become straight and the rough ways plain"; and they shall "taste and see that the Lord is gracious." And when they hear Christ proclaiming in the Gospel, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you," they will lay aside the burden of their sins and realize what follows: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The way of the Lord then has refreshment if it is kept according to his law.
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…
Plain — (1.) Heb. ‘abel (Judg. 11:33), a “grassy plain” or “meadow.” Instead of “plains of the vineyards,” as in the Authorized Version, the Revised Version has “Abel-cheramim” (q.v.), comp. Judg. 11:22; 2…
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF
Highways · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Mountains · Illustrative: Of difficulties — Illustrative: Of difficulties
Travellers · Of distinction: Often preceded by heralds, &c to have the roads prepared — Of distinction: Often preceded by heralds, &c to have the roads prepared
Valleys · Illustrative: (Filling up of,) of removing all obstructions to the gospel — Illustrative: (Filling up of,) of removing all obstructions to the gospel
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).
The summons proceeds in a commanding tone. "Let every valley be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; and let the rugged be made a plain, and the ledges of rocks a valley." והיה, which takes its tone from the two jussive verbs, is also itself equivalent to ויהי. Instead of גּיא (from גּיא), the pointing in Zac 14:4, we have here (according to Kimchi) the vowel-pointing גּיא; at the same time, the editions of Brescia, Pesaro, Venice 1678, have גּיא (with tzere), and this is also the reading of a codex of Luzzatto without Masoretic notes. The command, according to its spiritual interpretation, points to the encouragement of those that are cast down, the humiliation of the self-righteo…
There is now a shift from the general announcement of the good news to the specific expectation of God’s coming. The good news (40:1-2) is grounded in God himself. Isaiah portrayed the Lord as coming on a highway through the desert (see ch 35), although the imagery is here reversed: In ch 35, the people were traveling to Zion, toward the Lord. Here, the Lord is coming toward his people (see also 52:8, where the two images are brought together).
40:3 the voice of someone shouting: In Mal 3:1 this person (possibly the Elijah of Mal 4:5) was God’s messenger who prepared the way for God’s coming. In the Gospels, this announcer was identified with John the Baptist (Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4;…
Every valley shall be raised and the mountain shall be lowered, thus resulting in a smooth, even, and easily traversed road.
and the close mountains Heb. רְכָסִים, mountains close to each other, and because of their proximity, the descent between them is steep and it is not slanted, that it should be easy to descend and ascend. ([The word] רְכָסִים is translated by Jonathan as ‘banks,’ an expression of height like the banks of a river.)
close mountains Heb. רְכָסִים. Comp. (Ex. 28:28) “And they shall fasten (וְיִרְכְּסוּ) the breastplate.”
a champaigne Canpayne in O.F., a smooth and even terrain.
