Isaiah 40:4 (KJV)

Passage

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places 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: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight 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 crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

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

Isaiah 40:6 The voice said, Cry. And he 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 "crooked". 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 him that crieth in..." into verse 5's "And the glory of the LORD shall...", 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.