Isaiah 40:31 promises that people who wait on the LORD will be given renewed strength, enough to soar, to keep running, and to keep walking without giving out. The verse is not a promise of constant ease, but a picture of God supplying endurance to people who depend on him. The prophet Isaiah spoke these words to the people of Judah, who were living in exile or facing the prospect of it, and who felt tired, discouraged, and far from home.
But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31 (WEB)
What Isaiah 40:31 Means
The verse begins with “those who wait for the LORD.” Waiting here means more than sitting idle until something happens. It means keeping your attention fixed on God, trusting that he is acting even when you cannot see it, and refusing to rely only on your own resources. The waiting is active trust, the kind a person shows when they keep showing up to pray and obey while the answer is still unclear.
Next comes the promise that such people “will renew their strength.” The image is of strength being replaced or refilled, not simply stored up. Then the verse uses three pictures of movement: mounting up with wings like eagles, running without growing weary, and walking without fainting. These describe a progression from soaring, to a fast pace, to a steady everyday pace. The verse covers the high moments, the hard stretches, and the ordinary days.
What the verse does not promise is that waiting will feel pleasant or that burdens will vanish on schedule. It does not say believers will never be tired. It says God renews strength, and that the renewal comes to those who wait on him, which is a claim about God’s faithfulness rather than a guarantee about how a particular week will go.
The Context of Isaiah 40:31
Isaiah 40 opens a new section of the book that many readers call the “Book of Comfort,” spanning chapters 40 to 66. The prophet, traditionally identified as Isaiah son of Amoz, addresses a people who have been told that their suffering is ending. In the verses just before our verse, the prophet asks whether the people have not known or heard that the everlasting God, the Creator of the earth, neither faints nor grows weary. Verse 29 adds that he gives power to the weak and increases strength to those who have none.
Verse 30 is the key to reading verse 31. It says that even young people, who would normally be strongest, grow faint and fall. So the strength in view is not the natural vigor of youth, which fails. The strength comes from God, the one who never tires, and it reaches people who have run out of their own. That shift changes the verse from a motivational slogan into a statement about where real endurance comes from.
Key Phrases in Isaiah 40:31
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
(WEB)
This psalm presents God as a refuge and strength who is present in trouble. It pairs well with Isaiah 40:31 because both show God as the source of help when human resources fail.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
(WEB)
Paul speaks of finding strength in Christ across varying circumstances. Read alongside Isaiah 40:31, it reminds believers that endurance is drawn from a source outside themselves.
A Short Prayer From Isaiah 40:31
Lord, you are the everlasting God who does not faint or grow weary, and I come to you tired today. I confess that I have tried to carry things on my own strength and have run low. Teach me to wait on you with patient trust, keeping my eyes on your faithfulness rather than my own exhaustion. Renew my strength in the places where I feel empty, so that I can rise, run, and walk the path you have set before me. I give you this day and trust you with what I cannot control. Amen.