Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Parallel translations
- WEB Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall;
- BSB Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
- ESV Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
- NKJV Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
- NASB Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly,
- NLT Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Even the strongest young people grow tired and stumble, showing the limits of human strength.
Overview
Isaiah concedes that youthful vigor, the height of natural strength, inevitably fails. Human ability has a ceiling and eventually collapses. This admission heightens the contrast with the God-given strength promised to those who wait on the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Amos 2:14Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
- Ps 34:10The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
- Ps 33:16There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
- Isa 9:17Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
- Isa 13:18Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
- Eccl 9:11I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
- Ps 39:5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
- Jer 6:11Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.
- Jer 9:21For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 40:30 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.