Isaiah 42

1 “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.

Jacob is my servant, I will help him: Israel is my chosen, my soul has accepted him; I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles.

2 He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.

He shall not cry, nor lift up [his voice], nor shall his voice be heard without.

3 A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench; but he shall bring forth judgement to truth.

4 He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”

He shall shine out, and shall not be discouraged, until he have set judgement on the earth: and in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

5 This is what God the LORD says— He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:

Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven, and established it; who settled the earth, and the things in it, and gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that tread on it:

6 “I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations,

I the Lord God have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will strengthen you: and I have given you for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles:

7 to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.

to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound and them that sit in darkness out of bonds and the prison-house.

8 I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.

I am the Lord God: that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praises to graven images.

9 Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

Behold, the ancient things have come to pass, and [so will] the new things which I tell you: yes, before I tell [them] they are made known to you.

10 Sing to the LORD a new song— His praise from the ends of the earth— you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who dwell in them.

Sing a new hymn to the Lord: you [who are] his dominion, glorify his name from the end of the earth: you that go down to the sea, and sail upon it; the islands, and they that dwell in them.

11 Let the desert and its cities raise their voices; let the villages of Kedar cry aloud. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops.

Rejoice, you wilderness, and the villages thereof, the hamlets, and the dwellers in Kedar: the inhabitants of the rock shall rejoice, they shall shout from the top of the mountains.

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

They shall give glory to God, [and] shall proclaim his praises in the islands.

13 The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies:

The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and crush the war: he shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout mightily against his enemies.

14 “I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant.

I have been silent: shall I also always be silent and forbear: I have endured like a travailing [woman]: I will [now] amaze and wither at once.

15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.

I will make desolate mountains and hills, and will dry up all their grass; and I will make the rivers islands, and dry up the pools.

16 I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and I will cause them to tread paths which they have not known: I will turn darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things will I do, and will not forsake them.

17 But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.

But they are turned back: be you utterly ashamed that trust in graven [images], who say to the molten [images], You are our gods.

18 Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!

Hear, you deaf, and look up, you blind, to see.

19 Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the LORD?

And who is blind, but my servants? and deaf, but they that rule over them? yes, the servants of God have been made blind.

20 Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”

You have often seen, and have not taken heed; [your] ears have been opened, and you have not heard.

21 The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.

The Lord God has taken counsel that he might be justified, and might magnify [his] praise.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”

And I saw, and the people were spoiled and plundered: for [there is] a snare in the secret chambers everywhere, and in the houses also, where they have hidden them: they became a spoil, and there was no one that delivered the prey, and there was none who said, Restore.

23 Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter?

Who [is there] amongst you that will give ear to these things? listen you to the things which are coming to pass.

24 Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? They were unwilling to walk in His ways, and they would not obey His law.

For what did he give to Jacob up to spoil, and Israel to them that plundered him? Did not God [do it] against whom they sinned? [and] they would not walk in his ways, nor listen to his law.

25 So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

So he brought upon them the fury of his wrath; and the war, and those that burnt round about them, prevailed against them; yet no one of them knew [it], neither did they lay [it] to heart.