Bible Strands
Isaiah 40:1
“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks, issuing a command to unnamed messengers to comfort His people, identified in the next verse as Jerusalem. This opens a new section of Isaiah following the judgment oracles of chapters 1–39.
The words — נַחֲמֻ (nāḥāmū), Hiphil imperative plural of H5162, means "cause to comfort" or "console actively." Its immediate repetition doubles the urgency of the command.
The thread — Isaiah 51:12 and 51:3 return to the same verb, with God as the one who comforts Zion directly. 2 Corinthians 1:4 extends the pattern: God comforts believers so they in turn comfort others.
Why it lands — The verse is a commission, not a consolation; it places the reader in the role of the one who must go and speak tenderly. It asks the reader to act on comfort received, not merely to receive it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 1:4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
- Isaiah 51:12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?
- Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
- Zephaniah 3:14 Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
- Jeremiah 31:10 Hear, O nations, the word of the LORD, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock.
- Zechariah 1:13 So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
- Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.
- Isaiah 66:10 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.