Advent Season · Second Sunday of Advent · Year B
Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Comfort for God’s People
December 6, 2026
Overview & Insights
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” (Isaiah 40:1)
So Isaiah 39, set in Isaiah’s own day, envisages the future deportation of Judeans to Babylon. Isaiah 40–55, however, is set in the time after this deportation has happened. It does not say “In days to come God will send a message of comfort to people who have been punished,” in the manner of a passage such as 30:19–26. It says, rather, “God is now comforting you who have been punished.” The traditional view is that these chapters were written by Isaiah ben Amoz, and we may assume that God could have revealed to Isaiah the message to be addressed to the people in Babylon 150 years after Isaiah’s day. But the way the chapters themselves speak suggests that they are rather words of comfort that God gave in the here and now of suffering through the pastoral ministry of a poet whom God called to be a new Isaiah for people who had long been under judgment.
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Commentary
Commentary on Isaiah 40:1-11 Working Preacher
Frames the poem as unexpected comfort sent into frail human lives without denying suffering.
Isaiah 40:1-11 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching
Reformed exposition of the voice crying in the wilderness and the shepherd God who gathers the flock.
Enduring Word Bible Commentary Isaiah Chapter 40 Enduring Word · David Guzik
Verse by verse study of comfort, the herald of good news, and the everlasting God.
BibleHub Commentaries on Isaiah 40 BibleHub
Classic commentators assembled on the opening of Isaiah's book of comfort.
Second Sunday of Advent (Year B) Agape Bible Study
Catholic study notes on how the first reading from Isaiah 40 is fulfilled in the Gospel.
Background & Word Study
Sefaria: Isaiah 40 (Hebrew and English) Sefaria
Hebrew text with Jewish translations and traditional commentaries for word level study.
Isaiah 40:1 Hebrew Interlinear BibleHub
Word by word Hebrew of nachamu (comfort) with parsing and Strong's numbers.
Enter the Bible: Isaiah (Book Overview) Enter the Bible
Background on the composition of Isaiah and the setting of chapters 40 and following.
The Church Fathers
Questions preachers ask
What is the comfort of Isaiah 40?
God announces the end of exile with a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare his way; he comes with might yet tends his flock like a shepherd, gathering the lambs in his arms.
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