The Daily Office · Isaiah 40:28–31

They shall exchange their strength

Isaiah 40:28–31

28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

29He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

31but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

What's happening here

Isaiah 40 opens the second half of the book, speaking to Judeans in exile — their temple burned, their leaders deported, their God apparently defeated. The prophet's answer is not a pep talk. He asks a long series of questions — "have you not known? have you not heard?" — pointing the weary back to the God who made the stars and calls each one by name. The promise at the end is small and exact: those who wait will not recover their own strength; they will receive a different one.

The word that matters

חָלַףchalaph

Hebrew · to exchange, to renew by substitution

"They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength" is a famous line, but the Hebrew verb is not "renew" in the sense of refreshing what you already had. It is chalaph — to exchange, to trade. The promise is not that you will get a second wind of your own energy. It is that when your strength runs out, a different strength will be given in its place.

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