Advent · Second Sunday in Advent · Year B
Isaiah 40:1-11
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 Working Preacher
The Lutheran voice, reused because this Advent 2 (Year B) reading matches the live RCL page.
Isaiah 40:1-11 Commentary | Center for Excellence in Preaching Center for Excellence in Preaching
A Reformed reading of 'Comfort, comfort' and the voice that prepares the way.
Isaiah 40 | Enduring Word Bible Commentary (David Guzik) Enduring Word · David Guzik
Verse-by-verse evangelical exposition of the comfort oracle and the shepherd God.
Isaiah 40 Resources | Precept Austin Precept Austin
A dense gathering of word studies, sermons, and cross references on the chapter.
Isaiah 40:1 Commentaries | Bible Hub BibleHub
Classic pulpit and critical commentaries assembled at the opening word of comfort.
Background & Word Study
Isaiah 40 | Sefaria Sefaria
The Hebrew text with JPS translation and linked Jewish commentary.
Isaiah 40:1 Hebrew Interlinear | Bible Hub BibleHub
Hebrew-English interlinear with parsing and Strong's numbers for nachamu and the herald's cry.
Isaiah 40-66 Overview | BibleProject BibleProject
An animated overview of Isaiah's second half, which opens with this comfort oracle.
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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