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Isaiah 40:11

World English Bible

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

In the King James Version

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.

King James Version (Public Domain)

What surrounds this passage

Isaiah 40 describes God returning to a people worn out by a long ordeal. The shepherd picture covers the flock, the lambs carried in his arm, and the ones walking with their young.

The verses on either side

Isaiah 40:8-14, World English Bible

  1. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”
  2. You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up. Don’t be afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”
  3. Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
  4. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.
  5. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
  6. Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
  7. Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

A question to sit with

Who is looking after you while you look after them?

Why this one, and not these

3 passages were considered for this and turned down, each for a reason written at the time.

Numbers 11:14
Moses saying the burden is too heavy for him alone is a close fit, but it is the same shape as the reviewed burnout passage and would duplicate that record rather than answer a different disclosure.
Galatians 6:2
It is addressed to a community about carrying one another’s burdens. Given to the person already carrying one it becomes another instruction rather than any relief.
Matthew 11:28-30
The reviewed anxiety passage, held there deliberately.

Written about this passage

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