Advent · The Third Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 40:1-8 (9-11)
Comfort for God’s People
December 14, 2025
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
Luther Seminary on 'Comfort, comfort my people,' the RCL Advent 2B first reading.
Isaiah 40:1-11 Commentary (Center for Excellence in Preaching) Center for Excellence in Preaching
Reformed preaching commentary on the end of Israel's hard service.
Isaiah 40 (Enduring Word Bible Commentary) Enduring Word · David Guzik
David Guzik's evangelical notes on the chapter of comfort.
Isaiah 40 Resources (Precept Austin) Precept Austin
Collected verse studies, sermons, and devotionals on the chapter.
Isaiah 40:1 Commentaries BibleHub
Classic parallel commentaries on the opening of Second Isaiah.
Background & Word Study
Isaiah 40:1 Hebrew Text Analysis BibleHub
Hebrew text with Strong's numbers and parsing for each word.
Isaiah 40 (Sefaria) Sefaria
Hebrew and English side by side with Jewish commentaries and cross-links.
Book of Isaiah Overview (Isaiah 40-66) BibleProject
Animated overview of Isaiah's second half and its message of comfort.
Isaiah (Enter the Bible) Enter the Bible
Luther Seminary background on Isaiah's composition and themes.
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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