Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40
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The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
Book	Book of Isaiah
Category	Nevi'im
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	23

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" (Isaiah 40-55), dating from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is a part 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 is written in Hebrew language.
• This chapter is divided into 31 verses.

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)
  • 1QIsa^a: complete
  • 1QIsa^b: extant: verses 1-4
  • 4QIsa^b (4Q56): extant: verses 1‑4, 22‑26
  • 5Q³ (5QIsa): extant: verses 16, 18‑19

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

• Septuagint (3rd century BC)
• Theodotion version (~AD 180)

Structure

The English Standard Version organises this chapter as follows:

• Isaiah 40:1–5 = Comfort for God's People
• Isaiah 40:6–8 = The Word of God Stands Forever
• Isaiah 40:9–31 = The Greatness of God

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges refers to verses 1-11 as the prologue (to Deutero-Isaiah).

Verse 2

In the Septuagint this passage is addressed to the priests.

Verse 3

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

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 (Matthew 3:1-3; Mark 1:2–5; Luke 3:2–6;John 1:23). John himself confessed that the verse pertains to him:

He [John the Baptist] said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

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:

A voice cries:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.

Verse 4

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

Cited in Luke 3:5

Verse 5

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together:

for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Cited in Luke 3:6

Verse 13

Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

Or as His counselor has taught Him?

• Cross reference: Jeremiah 23:18
• Cited in Romans 11:34

Verse 22

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth,

and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers;

that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,

and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.

See also

• Christian messianic prophecies
• John the Baptist
• Messianic prophecies of Jesus
• Related Bible parts: Exodus 19, Jeremiah 23, Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, John 1, Romans 11, 1 Peter 5

External links

Jewish

• Isaiah 40: Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

• Isaiah 40 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
• Lowth, R., Isaiah: a new translation: with a preliminary dissertation, and notes, critical, philological and explanatory, Boston, W. Hilliard; Cambridge, J. Munroe and Company, 1834
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Messiah