What does Isaiah 40:29 mean?
“He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.”
'He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.' God's help is aimed precisely at the exhausted and depleted — he does not despise weakness but meets it with his own strength.
This verse sits in a chapter celebrating God's incomparable greatness. Having described a Creator who never grows tired, Isaiah turns to those who do: the faint and those with 'no might.' God's power flows toward exactly those who have run out.
The promise reverses how strength usually works. Normally the strong get stronger and the weak fade. But God 'gives power to the faint' and 'increases strength' for those who have none — his supply is not earned by the capable but given to the empty.
This sets up the famous verses that follow: even youths grow weary, 'but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength' (v. 31). The point is not self-generated willpower but received strength — God meeting human exhaustion with his own inexhaustible power.
How do I receive this strength?
The passage ties it to 'waiting for the LORD' (v. 31) — trusting, hoping in, and depending on God rather than relying on one's own dwindling resources.
Original BibleDawn explanation · reviewed 2026-06. Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy.