Isaiah 40:4 (ASV)

Passage

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain:

Nearby Context

Isaiah 40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah`s hand double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God.

Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain:

Isaiah 40:5 and the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it.

Isaiah 40:6 The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "valley", "shall", "exalted", "mountain", "hill", and "uneven". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "valley" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "The voice of one that crieth Prepare..." into verse 5's "and the glory of Jehovah shall be...", so "valley" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "valley" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.