经文研读
Isaiah 40:31 — Waiting on the LORD and Renewed Strength
Isaiah 40:31 promises that those who wait for the LORD will exchange human weakness for divinely renewed strength.
经文
- 31.但 那 等 候 耶 和 華 的 必 從 新 得 力 。 他 們 必 如 鷹 展 翅 上 騰 ； 他 們 奔 跑 卻 不 困 倦 ， 行 走 卻 不 疲 乏 。but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
这段经文的意思
Verse 31 contrasts with the preceding lines: even youths and young men 'shall utterly fall' (v. 30), yet those who 'wait for Jehovah' are promised the opposite — renewed strength, soaring like eagles, running without weariness, walking without fainting. The verse does not promise the absence of effort but a transformation of capacity so that endurance becomes possible.
The verb rendered 'wait' pictures an active, trusting orientation toward the LORD rather than passive idleness. The Hebrew text links this waiting to 'Jehovah,' the covenant name used throughout Isaiah 40. The result is described in a fourfold progression of verbs — renew, mount up, run, walk — moving from inward strength to upward lift, then to sustained motion at two paces. The imagery of eagles points to a rising above ordinary fatigue, not literal flight.
Because no original-language entries or cross-references were provided, this page does not enter Hebrew word study or parallel passages. The meaning is drawn directly from Isaiah 40:31 read against the immediately preceding contrast in verses 28–30, where the everlasting Creator 'fainteth not, neither is weary' and gives power to the faint.
背景
Isaiah 40 opens a section of comfort after the announcement of Jerusalem's pardoned iniquity (vv. 1–2). A voice in the wilderness prepares the way of Jehovah (vv. 3–5), and the prophet declares that 'the word of our God shall stand forever' in contrast to grass and flowers that fade (vv. 6–8).
Verses 12–26 magnify the everlasting God as Creator and Judge over nations, ending with the call to lift up the eyes and see the one who names the stars. Verses 28–31 form a climax: God does not faint, gives power to the faint, yet even the strong may fall — and so the call to 'wait for Jehovah' becomes the human side of the divine renewal promised in verse 31.
常见问题
What does it mean to 'wait for Jehovah' in Isaiah 40:31?
In context, waiting is presented as the human counterpart to God's self-revealed character in vv. 28–29: trusting the everlasting Creator who gives power to the faint. Isaiah 40 frames it as active, covenant-directed hope rather than passive inactivity.
Does Isaiah 40:31 promise that believers will literally fly like eagles?
The text says they 'mount up with wings as eagles' as a poetic image of rising above ordinary weakness. The verse pairs soaring imagery with the more concrete verbs 'run' and 'walk,' suggesting renewed capacity to endure life's journey, not literal flight.
Why does the verse mention both running and walking without weariness?
The progression from 'mount up' to 'run' to 'walk' covers a range of exertion. Read with v. 30, where even youths fall, the point is that God's renewed strength sustains the believer at every pace — whether the season calls for intense effort or steady endurance.