Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Parallel translations
- WEB Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
- BSB Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!
- NKJV Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees.
- NASB Strengthen the exhausted, and make the feeble strong.
- NLT With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God's people are called to strengthen the weak and encourage the discouraged in light of his coming salvation.
Overview
Isaiah exhorts the community to support those whose hands hang limp and knees are feeble, a call to renewed hope. The New Testament applies these words to Christian perseverance under hardship (Heb. 12:12). The encouragement rests on the certainty of God's promised deliverance, which sustains the faint-hearted.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Heb 12:12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
- Luke 22:32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
- Job 4:3–4Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
- Isa 57:14–16And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.
- Acts 18:23And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
- Luke 22:43And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
- Job 16:5But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
- Judg 7:11And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host.
- Isa 52:1–2Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
- Isa 40:1–2Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 35:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.