Isaiah 42

The Lord

42 ¹Behold, My servant, whom I uphold,
My chosen, in whom my soul delights.

I have put My spirit upon him;
he will bring justice to the nations.

²He will not cry out or lift up his voice,
nor make it heard outside.

³He will not break a crushed reed,
and He will not quench a faltering wick;
He will bring forth justice in truth.

⁴He will not falter
nor be discouraged

until He has established justice in the earth,
and the islands will wait for His law.

Isaiah

⁵Thus says God, the LORD,

Creator of the heavens, and He stretches them out,
He spreads forth the earth and that which comes from it,

He gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk on it.

The Lord

⁶“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness;
I grasp your hand and I keep you,

and I give you for a covenant of the people,
for a light to the nations,
⁷to open blind eyes,

to bring out the prisoner from prison
and those who sit in darkness from the dungeon.

⁸I am the LORD, that is My name,

and I will not give My glory to another,
neither My praise to graven images.

⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and I declare new things:
I tell you of them before they spring forth.”

Isaiah

¹⁰Sing a new song to the LORD,
His praise from the end of the earth,

you who go down to the sea and all that is in it,
the islands and their dwellers.

¹¹Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;

let the inhabitants of Sela sing gladly,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.

¹²Let them give glory to the LORD
and declare His praise in the islands.

¹³The LORD goes forth like a warrior;
He stirs up fury, like a man of war.

He cries out, yea, He roars;
He prevails over His enemies.

The Lord

¹⁴I have kept silent a long time;
I keep still,
I restrain myself;

like a woman in labor, I will cry out;
I will gasp,
and I will pant at the same time.

¹⁵I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and I will dry up all their vegetation;

and I will turn rivers into islands,
and I will dry up pools.

¹⁶And I will lead the blind in a way that they have not known;
I will guide them in paths that they have not known;

I will turn darkness into light before them
and rough places into level ground.

These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.

¹⁷They have turned backward;
they are certainly ashamed,

who trust in an idol,
who say to molten images,

Idolaters

“You are our gods.”

The Lord

¹⁸O deaf ones, hear!
And O blind ones, look, that you may see!

¹⁹[For I will send My servant unto you][1] who [are] blind, [yea, a messenger to open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the] deaf; [and they shall be made] perfect [notwithstanding their blindness, if they will hearken unto the messenger], the Lord’s servant.

Isaiah

²⁰[You are a people] who have seen many things, but you do not observe,
opening the ears [to hear], but [you] will not hear.

²¹The LORD is [not] pleased [with such a people, but] for His righteousness’ sake, He will magnify the law and make it glorious.

²²[You are] a plundered and looted people;
[your enemies], all of them, [have] snared [you] in holes,

and [they have hid you] in prison houses.
[They have taken you]

for a plunder, but none delivers,
for a spoil, and none says, “Restore.”

²³Who among [them] gives ear to [you],
[or] will hearken and hear [you], for the time to come?

²⁴[And] who gave Jacob for a spoil
and Israel to the plunderers?

Did not the LORD,
He against whom they have sinned?

For they were not willing to walk in His ways
and did not heed His law;

²⁵therefore, He has poured fury upon them,
His anger, and the strength of battle;

and [they have] set [them] on fire round about, yet [they know] not;
and it burned [them], yet [they] laid it not to heart.