Isaiah 40:28
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Isaiah 40 closes with a call to remember God's greatness. Verse 28 confronts the exiles' sense that God has overlooked them by exalting His eternal, untiring nature.
What Does Isaiah 40:28 Mean?
Isaiah 40:28 declares that the everlasting God, the Creator of all, never grows tired and is beyond our full understanding. The verse opens with a gentle rebuke shaped as a question: "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard?" Israel had forgotten what they already knew about God, and the prophet calls them back to it.
Three great truths follow. God is "everlasting" -- without beginning or end, unbound by time. He is "the Creator of the ends of the earth" -- the maker of all things, ruling over the farthest reaches of the world. And He "fainteth not, neither is weary" -- unlike His exhausted people, the inexhaustible God never runs low on strength. The exiles felt that their cause was overlooked and that God was either unable or unwilling to help; the prophet answers that God is neither tired nor distant. The closing line, "there is no searching of his understanding," reminds us that His wisdom is unfathomable -- when His ways puzzle us, the limit is in our understanding, not in His. This verse sets up the famous promise that follows: because God never faints, He gives strength to those who do. The cure for human weariness is found in the God who is never weary.
In the Original Language
"Everlasting God" is El olam. "Fainteth not" uses yaaph, to grow faint; "weary" is yaga, to toil to exhaustion -- both denied of God.
Cross References
“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
- Psalm 121:4
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”
- Romans 11:33
“Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.”
- Psalm 147:5
Application
When you feel God has overlooked you, remember what you already know: the everlasting Creator never tires and His wisdom never fails.