Isaiah 40:6 (DRB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways plain.

Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

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

Isaiah 40:7 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:

Isaiah 40:8 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of our Lord endureth for ever.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "voice", "saying", "said", "shall", "flesh", "grass", "glory", and "thereof". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "voice" and "saying", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "And the glory of the Lord shall..." into verse 7's "The grass is withered and the flower...", so "voice" and "saying" 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 "voice" and "saying" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.