Isaiah 42
1 [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.
Lo, My servant, I take hold on him, My chosen one — My soul hath accepted, I have put My Spirit upon him, Judgment to nations he bringeth forth.
2 He will not [show his power by] shouting [DOU] or by talking very loudly.
He doth not cry, nor lift up, Nor cause his voice to be heard, in the street.
3 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.
A bruised reed he breaketh not, And dim flax he quencheth not, To truth he bringeth forth judgment.
4 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.”
He doth not become weak nor bruised, Till he setteth judgment in the earth, And for his law isles wait with hope.
5 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],
Thus said God, Jehovah, preparing 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.
6 “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.
I, Jehovah, did call thee in righteousness, And I lay hold on thy hand, and keep thee, And I give thee for a covenant of a people, And a light of nations.
7 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.
To open the eyes of the blind, To bring forth from prison the bound one, From the house of restraint those sitting in darkness.
8 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.
I [am] Jehovah, this [is] My name, And Mine honour to another I give not, Nor My praise to graven images.
9 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.”
The former things, lo, have come, And new things I am declaring, Before they spring up I cause you to hear.
10 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!
Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, Ye who are going down to the sea, and its fulness, Isles, and their inhabitants.
11 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!
The wilderness and its cities do lift up [the voice], The villages Kedar doth inhabit, Sing do the inhabitants of Sela, From the top of mountains they cry.
12 Even people who live on distant islands should honor Yahweh and sing to praise him.
They ascribe to Jehovah honour, And His praise in the isles they declare.
13 [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.
Jehovah as a mighty one goeth forth. As a man of war He stirreth up zeal, He crieth, yea, He shrieketh, Against His enemies He showeth Himself mighty.
14 [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.
I have kept silent from of old, I keep silent, I refrain myself, As a travailing woman I cry out, I desolate and swallow up together.
15 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.
I make waste mountains and hills, And all their herbs I dry up, And I have made rivers become isles, And ponds I dry up.
16 [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.
And I have caused the blind to go, In a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I cause them to tread, I make a dark place before them become light, And unlevelled places become a plain, These [are] the things I have done to them, And I have not forsaken them.
17 But those who trust in carved idols, and say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be completely humiliated/disgraced.”
Removed backward — utterly ashamed, Are those trusting in a graven image, Those saying to a molten image, 'Ye [are] our gods.'
18 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!
Ye deaf, hear; and ye blind, look to see.
19 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.
Who [is] blind but My servant? And deaf as My messenger I send? Who [is] blind as he who is at peace, Yea, blind, as the servant of Jehovah?
20 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.”
Seeing many things, and thou observest not, Opening ears, and he heareth not.
21 Because Yahweh is righteous, he has honored his glorious laws.
Jehovah hath delight for the sake of His righteousness, He magnifieth law, and maketh honourable.
22 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.
And this [is] a people seized and spoiled, Snared in holes — all of them, And in houses of restraint they were hidden, They have been for a prey, And there is no deliverer, A spoil, and none is saying, 'Restore.'
23 Who among you will listen carefully to these things? Who will pay attention from now on?
Who among you giveth ear [to] this? Attendeth, and heareth afterwards.
24 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.
Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, And Israel to the spoilers? Is it not Jehovah — He against whom we sinned? Yea, they have not been willing in His ways to walk, Nor have they hearkened to His law.
25 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].
And He poureth on him fury, His anger, and the strength of battle, And it setteth him on fire round about, And he hath not known, And it burneth against him, and he layeth it not to heart!
