Theparashah sections listed here are based on theAleppo Codex.[4] Isaiah 40 is a part of theConsolations (Isaiah 40–66). {P}: openparashah; {S}: closedparashah.
"Spirit of the Lord": can also rendered as "wind of Jehovah" (Psalm 103:16) or may refer to the "withering east wind of those countries sent by Jehovah" (Jonah 4:8).[22]
Westermann notes the similarity of parts of this verse to other Bible verses: verse 22a vs.Job 34:13b and verse 22b vs.Psalm 104:2b.[26] This verse contains several rare words – such asדֹּק֙,doq ("curtain"), andמָתַח,mathach ("spread, stretch"), which areonly found here, as well asח֣וּג,chug ("circle"), which are only found in a few other verses (Proverbs 8:27;Job 22:14;Job 26:10) – suggesting "well-defined, distinctive traditions."[26]
"Circle" (of the earth): is translated from the Hebrew wordחוּג,chug, which also denotes "horizon, circuit, vault of the heavens";[27][28] while the Gesenius Lexicon also adds "sphere".[a] It can refer to
the full circuit – the seen and unseen halves – of the stars across the dome of the sky, or
the vault of heaven (Job 22:14) extending "in a half-circle from horizon to horizon", or
It is to emphasize the range of God’s authority "over everything the eye can see in every direction, even to the distant ends of the earth,"[30][31] but not necessarily refer to the "circular nature of the earth."[31]
Rashi mentions an expression with the same root inIsaiah 44:13 "and with acompass (וּבַמְּחוּגָה)" to view this word as a "circle" (as made by acompass).[32] A newer edition of theDouay–Rheims Bible renders it as "globe"[33] – and so does the Spanish version of the Jubilee Bible (el globo,[34] although the English version renders as "circle"[35]) – but an older edition of the Douay-Reims renders it as "compasse" (original spelling in 1582 CE).[36]
A part of the Hebrew text ofIsaiah 40:4 was used byShmuel Yosef Agnon as the title for his 1912-novella, "Vehaya Ha'akov Lemishor" ("The Crooked Shall Be Made Straight").[37]
^Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors).On "Isaiah 40". In:ThePulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.
^Aschkenasy, Nehama (1983). "Biblical Substructures in the Tragic Form Hardy, "The Mayor of Casterbridge" Agnon, "And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight"".Modern Language Studies.13 (1): 105.doi:10.2307/3194323.JSTOR3194323.
Brown, Francis; Briggs, Charles A.; Driver, S. R. (1994).The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (reprint ed.). Hendrickson Publishers.ISBN978-1565632066.
Gesenius, H. W. F. (1979).Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures: Numerically Coded to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, with an English Index. Translated by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux (7th ed.). Baker Book House.
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