July 26 — Comfort Ye My People
SCRIPTURE READING:
Isaiah 40-43
SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 40:¹ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Isaiah 40:² Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
Isaiah 40:³ 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.
Isaiah 40:⁴ 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:
Isaiah 40:⁵ 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.
Isaiah 40:⁶ The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Isaiah 40:⁷ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
Isaiah 40:⁸ The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Isaiah 40:⁹ O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Isaiah 40:¹⁰ Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
Isaiah 40:¹¹ He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
Isaiah 40:¹² Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
Isaiah 40:¹³ Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
Isaiah 40:¹⁴ With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
Isaiah 40:¹⁵ Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
Isaiah 40:¹⁶ And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
Isaiah 40:¹⁷ All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
Isaiah 40:¹⁸ To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
Isaiah 40:¹⁹ The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
Isaiah 40:²⁰ He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
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?
Isaiah 40:²² 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:
Isaiah 40:²³ That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.
Isaiah 40:²⁴ Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
Isaiah 40:²⁵ To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Isaiah 40:²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
Isaiah 40:²⁷ Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
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.
Isaiah 40:²⁹ He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isaiah 40:³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isaiah 40:³¹ But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 41:¹ Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
Isaiah 41:² Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
Isaiah 41:³ He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
Isaiah 41:⁴ Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
Isaiah 41:⁵ The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
Isaiah 41:⁶ They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Isaiah 41:⁷ So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
Isaiah 41:⁸ But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Isaiah 41:⁹ Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
Isaiah 41:¹⁰ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:¹¹ Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Isaiah 41:¹² Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
Isaiah 41:¹³ For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Isaiah 41:¹⁴ Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 41:¹⁵ Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Isaiah 41:¹⁶ Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 41:¹⁷ When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isaiah 41:¹⁸ I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
Isaiah 41:¹⁹ I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Isaiah 41:²⁰ That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Isaiah 41:²¹ Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
Isaiah 41:²² Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
Isaiah 41:²³ Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
Isaiah 41:²⁴ Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Isaiah 41:²⁵ I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
Isaiah 41:²⁶ Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
Isaiah 41:²⁷ The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
Isaiah 41:²⁸ For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Isaiah 41:²⁹ Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Isaiah 42:¹ Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Isaiah 42:² He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Isaiah 42:³ A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
Isaiah 42:⁴ He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Isaiah 42:⁵ Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
Isaiah 42:⁶ I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isaiah 42:⁷ To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Isaiah 42:⁸ I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Isaiah 42:⁹ Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Isaiah 42:¹⁰ Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isaiah 42:¹¹ Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Isaiah 42:¹² Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
Isaiah 42:¹³ The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
Isaiah 42:¹⁴ I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
Isaiah 42:¹⁵ 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 42:¹⁶ And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
Isaiah 42:¹⁷ They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
Isaiah 42:¹⁸ Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Isaiah 42:¹⁹ Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant?
Isaiah 42:²⁰ Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
Isaiah 42:²¹ The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Isaiah 42:²² But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Isaiah 42:²³ Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Isaiah 42:²⁴ Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isaiah 42:²⁵ Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
Isaiah 43:¹ But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
Isaiah 43:² When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Isaiah 43:³ For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
Isaiah 43:⁴ Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.
Isaiah 43:⁵ Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;
Isaiah 43:⁶ I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
Isaiah 43:⁷ Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isaiah 43:⁸ Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
Isaiah 43:⁹ Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
Isaiah 43:¹⁰ Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Isaiah 43:¹¹ I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
Isaiah 43:¹² I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.
Isaiah 43:¹³ Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
Isaiah 43:¹⁴ Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
Isaiah 43:¹⁵ I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
Isaiah 43:¹⁶ Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
Isaiah 43:¹⁷ Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
Isaiah 43:¹⁸ Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
Isaiah 43:¹⁹ Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:²⁰ The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
Isaiah 43:²¹ This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
Isaiah 43:²² But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
Isaiah 43:²³ Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
Isaiah 43:²⁴ Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
Isaiah 43:²⁵ I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
Isaiah 43:²⁶ Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
Isaiah 43:²⁷ Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
Isaiah 43:²⁸ Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
DEVOTIONAL:
Isaiah 40 begins with comfort after judgment. Jerusalem's warfare will end, her iniquity will be pardoned, and a voice will cry in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. The shift is not a denial of earlier warnings; it is the announcement that God's covenant mercy will outlast exile. Grass withers and flowers fade, but God's word stands forever. The comfort is sturdy because it rests on the character and promise of the Lord, not on Judah's strength.
The Lord is presented as incomparable. He measures waters in the hollow of His hand, counts nations as a drop of a bucket, names the stars, and gives power to the faint. This greatness is not abstract. The Holy One who rules creation also speaks tenderly to His people. Biblical comfort is never flattery. It lifts weary eyes from circumstances to the God who is both transcendent and near, majestic and merciful, sovereign over history and attentive to exhausted saints.
Chapters 41 through 43 confront idols and fear. The nations make gods that must be fastened so they will not fall, while the Lord upholds His servant and promises, 'Fear thou not; for I am with thee.' Israel remains chosen and loved despite discipline. Passing through waters and fire does not mean life will be painless; it means the covenant God will be present and preserving. He forms His people for His glory and commands them to witness that He alone is God.
The New Testament identifies the wilderness voice with John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. The Lord whose way is prepared comes in the humility of the Messiah, the Shepherd who gathers lambs with His arm and carries them in His bosom. Jesus is also the true Servant, upheld by the Father, bringing justice to the nations without breaking the bruised reed. In Him, comfort becomes flesh, and weary sinners find rest through repentance and faith.
In daily life, Isaiah 40 through 43 teaches us to receive comfort as a summons to trust and witness. Families can speak God's durable promises over anxious children, workers can depend on strength given to the faint, and churches can comfort sufferers without minimizing pain. Because the word stands forever, obedience can continue when emotions are tired. Christ carries lambs, renews strength, and makes His people witnesses in ordinary places.
In U.S. civic life, the civic virtue tied to this reading is compassionate endurance. A fitting current prayer focus is for the weary, elderly, disabled, caregivers, veterans, disaster survivors, and those carrying hidden burdens to receive wise care and durable hope. Christians should show up as patient servants who strengthen the faint, speak truth without harshness, and bear witness that God's word outlasts every crisis.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Why is Isaiah's comfort strong enough to follow the warnings of judgment?
How does God's incomparable greatness deepen His tenderness toward the weary?
What do the water and fire promises teach about God's presence with His people?
How does John the Baptist's ministry connect Isaiah's comfort to Jesus?
PRAYER:
ADORATION: Incomparable Lord, You measure the seas, name the stars, uphold the weary, and keep Your word forever.
CONFESSION: We confess that we often measure our hope by visible strength and forget Your nearness when we are tired.
THANKSGIVING: Thank You for Jesus, the Shepherd and Servant, who gathers the weak and brings comfort in person.
SUPPLICATION – GENERAL: Renew faint hearts, make us faithful witnesses, and teach our homes and churches to comfort with truth.
SUPPLICATION – U.S. / CIVIC: Provide compassionate care for the weary, elderly, disabled, caregivers, veterans, disaster survivors, and those with hidden burdens.
SCRIPTURE: "but the word of our God shall stand for ever"