Read & explore together
Here Is Your God!
Isaiah 40:9–31 announces good news about God himself. The passage moves from a call to proclaim, to questions about God’s greatness, to comfort for people who feel overlooked and weak.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
In this passage, the speaker tells Zion and Jerusalem to announce, “Behold, your God!” The verses then describe the Lord Yahweh as ruler, shepherd, creator, and the one who gives strength. The whole section teaches by proclamation, questions, and vivid comparisons within Isaiah 40:9–31.
Isaiah 40:9–31Main takeaway
This passage teaches that the Lord is unmatched in power and understanding, yet he also cares for his people and strengthens those who wait for him.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Good news: “Behold, your God!”The passage begins with a strong announcement. Zion and Jerusalem are told to lift up their voices without fear and say, “Behold, your God!”
Explanation
The passage begins with a strong announcement. Zion and Jerusalem are told to lift up their voices without fear and say, “Behold, your God!” The message is not mainly about the messenger but about God’s coming rule. Yet this mighty Lord also feeds his flock, gathers lambs, and gently leads them like a shepherd.
02No one taught or measured GodA series of questions shows that God’s power and wisdom are beyond comparison. He is pictured as measuring waters, skies, dust, mountains, and hills.
Explanation
A series of questions shows that God’s power and wisdom are beyond comparison. He is pictured as measuring waters, skies, dust, mountains, and hills. No one directs his Spirit or serves as his counsellor. The point is not to give measurements, but to show that creation and wisdom are fully under God’s authority.
03Nations and idols are not God’s equalThe nations are described as tiny before God, like a drop in a bucket or dust on scales. Even great offerings are not enough to match his worth.
Explanation
The nations are described as tiny before God, like a drop in a bucket or dust on scales. Even great offerings are not enough to match his worth. So Isaiah asks, “To whom then will you liken God?” An idol is only something crafted by a workman, whether expensive or simple.
04The Creator sees and strengthensThe passage returns to what people should know: God reigns above the earth, removes rulers, and made the host of heaven, calling them by name.
Explanation
The passage returns to what people should know: God reigns above the earth, removes rulers, and made the host of heaven, calling them by name. Therefore Israel’s complaint that God has overlooked them is challenged. Yahweh does not grow tired. He gives power to the weak, and those who wait for him receive renewed strength.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What two pictures of God appear together in verses 10–11?
Notice that the Lord comes as a mighty ruler, yet he also cares for his flock by feeding, gathering, carrying, and gently leading.
02How do verses 18–20 show the difference between God and an idol?
The text asks who can be compared to God, then describes an image that people make and set up.
03According to verses 27–31, what does God do for people who feel weak or forgotten?
The passage answers the complaint by saying that Yahweh does not faint, gives power to the weak, and renews the strength of those who wait for him.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Isaiah 40:9–31
9You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength! Lift it up! Don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
10Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
14Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
15Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.
16Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.
17All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
19A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it.
20He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
21Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
23who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.
24They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.
25“To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
27Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God”?
28Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
30Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
31but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.