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.
[Yahweh says, “I want you people to know about] my servant, whom I encourage. I have chosen him, and I am pleased with him. I have given him my Spirit, and he will make certain that all the people-groups do what is right/just.
2 He does not cry, nor lift up, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
He will not [show his power by] shouting [DOU] or by talking very loudly.
3 A bruised reed He does not break, And faded flax He does not quench, He brings forth judgment to truth.
He will not get rid of [anyone who is weak like] [MET] a smashed reed, and he will not [end the life of anyone who is helpless like] [MET] someone would extinguish a dimly burning wick [of an oil lamp]. He will faithfully/continually make sure that judges decide cases justly.
4 He does not become weak nor bruised, Until He sets judgment in the earth, And islands wait with hope for His law.
He will not become exhausted or discouraged all during the time that he is causing things to be done justly throughout the earth. Even [people living on the islands in] [MTY] the oceans will confidently wait for [him to teach them] his laws.”
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.
Yahweh our God created the sky and spread it out. He also created the earth and everything on it. He gives breath to all the people on the earth; he causes them to live [DOU]. [And he is the one who says to his special servant],
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, Yahweh, have chosen you to show people that I always act righteously/fairly. I will grasp your hand and protect you, and I will present you to [my Israeli] people to be the one who will put into effect my agreement with them. [You will be like] a light to the [other] 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.
You will enable blind [IDM] people to see, you will free those who are in prison (OR, who are bound [by the guilt of their sins]) [MET] and release those who are in dark dungeons.
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 Yahweh; that is my name. I will not allow anyone else to receive the honor that only I deserve. And I will not allow idols to be praised like only I should be praised.
9 The former things, behold, have come, And I am declaring new things, Before they spring up I cause you to hear.
Everything that I have prophesied has happened, and now I will tell about other things that will happen. I will tell you things that will happen before they happen.”
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.
Sing a new song to Yahweh! Sing to praise him throughout the world! All you people who sail across the oceans, and all you creatures that live in the oceans, and all you people who live on islands far away, sing!
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.
You people who live in towns in the desert, sing loudly! You people who live in the Kedar [area in the north of Arabia], you rejoice also! You people in Sela [city in Edom], you also should sing joyfully; shout [to praise him] from the tops of your mountains!
12 They ascribe to YHWH glory, And they declare His praise in the islands.
Even people who live on distant islands should honor Yahweh and sing to praise him.
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.
[It will be as though] Yahweh will march out like [SIM] a mighty soldier; he will show that he is very angry. He will shout a battle-cry, and [then] he will defeat all his enemies.
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.
[He will say], “I have remained silent [DOU] for a long time; I have restrained myself [from doing what I need to do]. But now, like [SIM] a woman who is giving birth to a baby, I will cry out and gasp and pant.
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 level off the hills and mountains, and I will cause all the plants and trees to dry up. I will cause the rivers to become small streams, and little islands will appear in them, and I will cause all the pools to become dry.
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.
[My people who have been taken to Babylonia are like] [MET] blind people, [but] I will lead them along a road on which they have not walked before, on a road that they have not seen before. They have felt [very helpless, as though] they were walking in the darkness, but I will take away that darkness and I will make smooth the road that is in front of them. Those are the things that I will do for them; I will not abandon them.
17 Removed backward—utterly ashamed, Are those trusting in a carved image, Those saying to a molten image, “You [are] our gods.”
But those who trust in carved idols, and say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be completely humiliated/disgraced.”
18 You deaf, hear; and you blind, look to see.
You [Israeli people who have acted toward God like] deaf [people], listen [to what Yahweh says]! “You [who have been like] [MET] blind [people], look!
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?
No people are [RHQ] as blind as my people, who [should have been] serving me. No people are [RHQ] as much like [MET] deaf people as [the Israelis, who should have been] my messengers. No people are [RHQ] as much like [MET] blind people as those whom I chose to serve me.
20 Seeing many things, and you do not observe, Opening ears, and he does not hear.
You see and know what are the right things to do, but you do not do them. You hear [what I say to you], but you do not pay attention.”
21 YHWH has delight for the sake of His righteousness, He magnifies law, and makes honorable.
Because Yahweh is righteous, he has honored his glorious laws.
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 [the armies of Babylon have destroyed Jerusalem] and have completely (plundered/taken away) [DOU] all the valuable things, and they have captured Yahweh’s people and taken them away and put them in prison. They have been captured easily, because there was no one to protect them; there was no one to say that they should be allowed to return home.
23 Who among you gives ear [to] this? Attends, and hears afterward?
Who among you will listen carefully to these things? Who will pay attention from now on?
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 allowed the valuable possessions of the people of Israel to be stolen [RHQ, DOU]? It was Yahweh, because he is he one against whom we had sinned; we did not conduct our lives like he wanted us to, and we did not obey his laws.
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!
Therefore, he was extremely angry with us, and he caused our soldiers to be destroyed in battles. [It was as though] [MET] he lit a fire around us, but we did not understand [what he was trying to tell us]. [His being angry with us was like] a fire that would burn us up, but we did not pay attention [IDM].
