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.
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[4] Isaiah 40 is a part of the Consolations (Isaiah 40–66). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.
and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:[16]
"All flesh is grass" (Hebrew: כל־הבשר חצירkāl-ha-bā-shārkhā-tsîr[17] compare to Isaiah 37:27 and see also Job 5:25; Psalm 90:5; Psalm 92:7; Psalm 103:15.[18] is answering the question, "What shall I cry?" (also see Job 8:12; Job 14:2; Psalm 37:2).[19]
"Spirit of the Lord": can also rendered as "wind of Jehovah" (Psalm 103:16) or may refer to the "withering east wind of those countries sent by Jehovah" (Jonah 4:8).[22]
Westermann notes the similarity of parts of this verse to other Bible verses: verse 22a vs. Job 34:13b and verse 22b vs. Psalm 104:2b.[26] This verse contains several rare words – such as דֹּק֙, doq ("curtain"), and מָתַח, mathach ("spread, stretch"), which are only found here, as well as ח֣וּג, chug ("circle"), which are only found in a few other verses (Proverbs 8:27; Job 22:14; Job 26:10) – suggesting "well-defined, distinctive traditions."[26]
"Circle" (of the earth): is translated from the Hebrew word חוּג, chug, which also denotes "horizon, circuit, vault of the heavens";[27][28] while the Gesenius Lexicon also adds "sphere".[a] 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 (Job 22:14) extending "in a half-circle from horizon to horizon", or
a circular observable horizon (cf. Proverbs 8:27; Job 26:10)
It is to emphasize the range of God’s authority "over everything the eye can see in every direction, even to the distant ends of the earth,"[30][31] but not necessarily refer to the "circular nature of the earth."[31]
Rashi mentions an expression with the same root in Isaiah 44:13 "and with a compass (וּבַמְּחוּגָה)" to view this word as a "circle" (as made by a compass).[32] A newer edition of the Douay–Rheims Bible renders it as "globe"[33] – and so does the Spanish version of the Jubilee Bible (el globo,[34] although the English version renders as "circle"[35]) – but an older edition of the Douay-Reims renders it as "compasse" (original spelling in 1582 CE).[36]
Usesedit
Modern literatureedit
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" ("The Crooked Shall Be Made Straight").[37]
^ abEllicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905). Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers. Isaiah 40. London : Cassell and Company, Limited, [1905-1906] Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019.
^Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On "Isaiah 40". In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.
^Isaiah 40:22 in the 1582 Douay-Rheims Old Testament
^Aschkenasy, Nehama (1983). "Biblical Substructures in the Tragic Form Hardy, "The Mayor of Casterbridge" Agnon, "And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight"". Modern Language Studies. 13 (1): 105. doi:10.2307/3194323. JSTOR 3194323.
^Block, Daniel I. (2001). "Handel's Messiah: Biblical and Theological Perspectives" (PDF). Didaskalia. 12 (2). Retrieved 19 July 2011.
Sourcesedit
Brown, Francis; Briggs, Charles A.; Driver, S. R. (1994). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (reprint ed.). Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 978-1565632066.
Gesenius, H. W. F. (1979). Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures: Numerically Coded to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, with an English Index. Translated by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux (7th ed.). Baker Book House.
Oswalt, John (1998). The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66. (Volume 2 of The Book of Isaiah). New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Vol. 23. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802825346. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
Smith, Gary V. (2009). Isaiah 40-66. New American commentary. Vol. 15. B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 9780805401448. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
Westermann, Claus (1969). Isaiah 40-66. Old Testament Library. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664226459. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
External linksedit
Jewishedit
Isaiah 40: Hebrew with Parallel English
Christianedit
Isaiah 40 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate