Many consider this the
start of a major new section in this long book, even as it reworks
themes from the first section at points

After words of warning,
we hear a decidedly different voice: one of comfort. Instead of
shouts of warning, we hear of tenderness.

There may be a tacit
admission that Israel’s affliction was not condign with her
wrongs. Notice, she has paid double, not merely paid, for sins.

v. 3 may be some sort
of choral response, or it may be a voice from the heavenly council
(see Ps. 89). Notice that the Greek version punctuates differently,
and that is what is reflected in Mark on John the Baptist.

Some detect a note of a
second exodus here. This reflects back to an earlier passage
(35:5-10) and is echoed in a number of later passages (esp. 41, 42)
If that is true, instead of wilderness wandering, the people will be
treated to a divine super-highway, with the obstacles flattened.

v.6 moves to a
dialogue with heaven. The prophet’s words are utterly
depressed. After all, the prophet has seen destruction. Why bother,
life is so fragile, so transient, so ephemeral. God’s
breath/spirit does cause flourishing but withering.

v.8 I can’t tell
if this is a response from heaven, or the result of the prophet’s
cathartic words of depression and seeing a note of hope. Do you think
the word fo the Lord is this passage, the entire gospel as in I Peter
1:23-5, or the entire Bible?

What does it mean to
you to have stability/confidence in the security fo the word of God?

Does the transitory
nature of life bother you, or do you accept it as part of the antural
order?

v.9I can’t tell
if the prophet is to speak or is Zion itself to speak the good news.
Herald is not a word we use now Broadcast would be better.

vv.10-11 have 2 images
of God of might and compassion. The emphasis seems to me to be on the
gentleness after the terrifying destruction of Jerusalem and the pain
of exile.