Isaiah 40


Isaiah 40 is the fortieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, and the first chapter of the section known as "Deutero-Isaiah", dating from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Parts of this chapter are cited in all four canonical Gospels of the New Testament.

Text

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 31 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis.
Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls :
  • 1QIsaa: complete
  • 1QIsab: extant verses 1-4
  • 4QIsab : extant verses 1‑4, 22‑26
  • 5Q3 : extant verses 16, 18‑19
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.

New Testament references

  • : Matthew 3:1–12; ; ;
  • :
  • :

    Parashot

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Isaiah 40 is a part of the Consolations . : open parashah; : closed parashah.

Structure

John Skinner, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges commentary, refers to verses 1-11 as the prologue.

Prepare the Way for the LORD (40:1–5)

Verse 1

  • "Your": The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural, may refer to "God’s people" or "unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem".

    Verse 2

In the Septuagint this passage is addressed to the priests.

Verse 3

This verse is cited in all four gospels in New Testament as fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist, who prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ the Lord. John himself confessed that the verse pertains to him:
Some English translations associate the reference to "the wilderness" with "the voice which cries out": examples include the King James Version and New King James Version, the Geneva Bible, Wycliffe's translation, the Darby Bible and Brenton's translation of the Septuagint. In more recent translations, "the wilderness" is associated with the place where the way of the Lord is to be prepared: examples include the ASV, Common English Bible, Contemporary English Version, English Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version:

Verse 4

Cited in Luke 3:5.

Verse 5

Cited in Luke 3:6.

The Enduring Word (40:6–8)

Verse 6

  • "All flesh is grass".
Cited in 1 Peter 1:24.

Verse 7

  • "Spirit of the Lord": can also rendered as "wind of Jehovah" or may refer to the "withering east wind of those countries sent by Jehovah".

    Verse 8

Cited together with Isaiah 40:6 in 1 Peter 1:24–25.

Here Is Your God! (40:9–31)

Verse 13

Westermann notes the similarity of parts of this verse to other Bible verses: verse 22a vs. b and verse 22b vs. b. This verse contains several rare words such as, doq, and, mathach, which are only found here, as well as, chug, which are only found in a few other verses suggesting "well-defined, distinctive traditions."
  • "Circle" : is translated from the Hebrew word,, which also denotes "horizon, circuit, vault of the heavens"; while the Gesenius Lexicon also adds "sphere". It can refer to
  • * the full circuit the seen and unseen halves of the stars across the dome of the sky, or
  • * the vault of heaven extending "in a half-circle from horizon to horizon", or
  • * a circular observable horizon

    Uses

Modern literature

A part of the Hebrew text of Isaiah 40:4 was used by Shmuel Yosef Agnon as the title for his 1912-novella, "Vehaya Ha'akov Lemishor".

Music

The King James Version of verses 1–5, 9 and 11 from this chapter is cited as texts in the English-language oratorio "Messiah" by George Frideric Handel.

Jewish

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Category:Christian messianism