1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
God wants those who love Him to be comforted, no matter what is going on.
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.
Jerusalem has been punished for her disobedience, and now it’s time to be soothed.
3 The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Jesus said this was a prophecy concerning John. His mission was to get people alerted to and ready for the arrival of the Messiah.
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:
God straightens everything out.
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.
6 The voice said, “Cry.”...
God calling John?
...And he said, “What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the Lord blows upon it: surely the people is grass.”
John answers, “ Why bother. People are short lived and weak, fragile.”
8 “The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”
God answers, “True, but I’m not.”
9 O Zion, that brings good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
“The very God will walk among you, Jerusalem and Judah.”
10 Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him.
This kind of verse is a big part of why the Jewish leadership was expecting the Messiah to form an army and destroy Rome. God meant, however, that Jesus would rule over sin, a much bigger enemy.
11 He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
The character of Jesus and how He cares for us. We are as weak and vulnerable as a little lamb; about the most defenseless creature in the world. And though Jesus is the Warrior King against sin and evil, He is the Shepherd King to those who love Him; gentle and kind and caring for all their needs.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with the span (width of His stretched out hand), and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
This God of ours knows exactly the weight of all the water and mountains in the world, how many specks of dust there are, how big the sky is.
13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor hath taught Him?
God had no teacher.
14 With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understanding?
God does not need to go to anyone for advice.
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He takes up the isles as a very little thing.
All the most powerful countries in the world are nothing to God. They are just a speck in the grand scheme of things.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
The richest country in the world can’t provide enough sacrifice to do God justice.
17 All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?
What could we possibly compare God to? How do we even begin to describe Him?
19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
Men try by making idols.
20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
Even the poor have their wooden idols.
21 Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Are you really that stupid?
22 It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretch out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
God is too great to portray in an image or idol.
23 That brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth as vanity.
God is in control.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
The most powerful human king is like dried up grass to God. He blows him away whenever He wants.
25 “To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
“I have no equivalent.” Says God.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that brings out their host by number: He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one fails.
God is so great He created the Universe, from the very stars to the tiniest molecule. And they all work perfectly.
27 Why say thou, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?”
How in the world do you think you can hide from God?
28 Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding.
God doesn’t get tired or go on vacation. His wisdom is unending.
29 He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increases strength.
God gives strength to those who need it. He is their strength. He carries them.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Humans fail; even the strongest are not strong enough.
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
“Wait” is “to serve” or “to be still.” Those who serve God, who trust in Him, will have His strength to do their work with.