Isaiah 40:1 (YLT)

Passage

Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people, saith your God.

Isaiah 40:2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, That her warfare hath been completed, That accepted hath been her punishment, That she hath received from the hand of Jehovah Double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40:3 A voice is crying--in a wilderness--Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, Make straight in a desert a highway to our God.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "comfort", "people", and "saith". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "comfort" and "people", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The next verse adds "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and...", so "comfort" and "people" should be read forward into that movement. 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 "comfort" and "people" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.