Isaiah 42
1 Behold, My servant, I take hold on Him, My Chosen One—My soul has accepted, I have put My Spirit on Him, He brings forth judgment to nations.
See my servant, whom I am supporting, my loved one, in whom I take delight: I have put my spirit on him; he will give the knowledge of the true God to the nations.
2 He does not cry, nor lift up, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
He will make no cry, his voice will not be loud: his words will not come to men's ears in the streets.
3 A bruised reed He does not break, And faded flax He does not quench, He brings forth judgment to truth.
He will not let a crushed stem be quite broken, and he will not let a feebly burning light be put out: he will go on sending out the true word to the peoples.
4 He does not become weak nor bruised, Until He sets judgment in the earth, And islands wait with hope for His law.
His light will not be put out, and he will not be crushed, till he has given the knowledge of the true God to the earth, and the sea-lands will be waiting for his teaching.
5 Thus said God, YHWH, Creating the heavens, and stretching them out, Spreading out the earth and its productions, Giving breath to the people on it, And spirit to those walking in it.
God the Lord, even he who made the heavens, measuring them out on high; stretching out the earth, and giving its produce; he who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who go about on it, says:
6 I, YHWH, called you in righteousness, And I lay hold on your hand, and keep you, And I give you for a covenant of a people, And a light of nations.
I the Lord have made you the vessel of my purpose, I have taken you by the hand, and kept you safe, and I have given you to be an agreement to the people, and a light to the nations:
7 To open the eyes of the blind, To bring forth the bound one from prison, Those sitting in darkness from the house of restraint.
To give eyes to the blind, to make free the prisoners from the prison, to let out those who are shut up in the dark.
8 I [am] YHWH, this [is] My Name, And I do not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to carved images.
I am the Lord; that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to pictured images.
9 The former things, behold, have come, And I am declaring new things, Before they spring up I cause you to hear.
See, the things said before have come about, and now I give word of new things: before they come I give you news of them.
10 Sing a new song to YHWH, His praise from the end of the earth, You who are going down to the sea, and its fullness, Islands, and their inhabitants.
Make a new song to the Lord, and let his praise be sounded from the end of the earth; you who go down to the sea, and everything in it, the sea-lands and their people.
11 The wilderness and its cities lift up [their voice], Kedar inhabits the villages, The inhabitants of Sela sing, They cry from the top of mountains.
Let the waste land and its flocks be glad, the tent-circles of Kedar; let the people of the rock give a glad cry, from the top of the mountains let them make a sound of joy.
12 They ascribe to YHWH glory, And they declare His praise in the islands.
Let them give glory to the Lord, sounding his praise in the sea-lands.
13 YHWH goes forth as a mighty one. He stirs up zeal as a man of war, He cries, indeed, He shrieks, He shows Himself mighty against His enemies.
The Lord will go out as a man of war, he will be moved to wrath like a fighting-man: his voice will be strong, he will give a loud cry; he will go against his attackers like a man of war.
14 I have kept silent from of old, I keep silent, I refrain Myself, I cry out as a travailing woman, I desolate and swallow up together.
I have long been quiet, I have kept myself in and done nothing: now I will make sounds of pain like a woman in childbirth, breathing hard and quickly.
15 I make desolate mountains and hills, And I dry up all their herbs, And I have made rivers become islands, And I dry up ponds.
I will make waste mountains and hills, drying up all their plants; and I will make rivers dry, and pools dry land.
16 And I have caused the blind to go, In a way they have not known, I cause them to tread in paths they have not known, I make a dark place become light before them, And unleveled places become a plain, These [are] the things I have done to them, And I have not forsaken them.
And I will take the blind by a way of which they had no knowledge, guiding them by roads strange to them: I will make the dark places light before them, and the rough places level. These things will I do and will not give them up.
17 Removed backward—utterly ashamed, Are those trusting in a carved image, Those saying to a molten image, “You [are] our gods.”
They will be turned back and be greatly shamed who put their hope in pictured images, who say to metal images, You are our gods.
18 You deaf, hear; and you blind, look to see.
Give ear, you whose ears are shut; and let your eyes be open, you blind, so that you may see.
19 Who [is] blind but My servant? And deaf as My messenger I send? Who [is] blind as he who is at peace, Indeed, blind, as the servant of YHWH?
Who is blind, but my servant? who has his ears stopped, but he whom I send? who is blind as my true one, or who has his ears shut like the Lord's servant?
20 Seeing many things, and you do not observe, Opening ears, and he does not hear.
Seeing much, but keeping nothing in mind; his ears are open, but there is no hearing.
21 YHWH has delight for the sake of His righteousness, He magnifies law, and makes honorable.
It was the Lord's pleasure, because of his righteousness, to make the teaching great and give it honour.
22 And this [is] a people seized and spoiled, Snared in holes—all of them, And they were hidden in houses of restraint, They have been for a prey, And there is no deliverer, A spoil, and none is saying, “Restore.”
But this is a people whose property has been taken away from them by force; they are all taken in holes, and shut up in prisons: they are made prisoners, and no one makes them free; they are taken by force and no one says, Give them back.
23 Who among you gives ear [to] this? Attends, and hears afterward?
Who is there among you who will give ear to this? who will give attention to it for the time to come?
24 Who has given Jacob for a spoil, And Israel to the spoilers? Is it not YHWH—He against whom we sinned? Indeed, they have not been willing to walk in His ways, Nor have they listened to His law.
Who gave up Jacob to those who took away his goods, and Israel to his attackers? Did not the Lord? he against whom they did wrong, and in whose ways they would not go, turning away from his teaching.
25 And He pours fury on him, His anger, and the strength of battle, And it sets him on fire all around, And he has not known, And it burns against him, and he does not lay it to heart!
For this reason he let loose on him the heat of his wrath, and his strength was like a flame; and it put fire round about him, but he did not see it; he was burned, but did not take it to heart.
