Isaiæ 42
1 [Ecce servus meus, suscipiam eum; electus meus, complacuit sibi in illo anima mea: dedi spiritum meum super eum: judicium gentibus proferet.
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 Non clamabit, neque accipiet personam, nec audietur vox ejus foris.
He will make no cry, his voice will not be loud: his words will not come to men's ears in the streets.
3 Calamum quassatum non conteret, et linum fumigans non extinguet: in veritate educet judicium.
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 Non erit tristis, neque turbulentus, donec ponat in terra judicium; et legem ejus insulæ exspectabunt.
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 Hæc dicit Dominus Deus, creans cælos, et extendens eos; formans terram, et quæ germinant ex ea; dans flatum populo qui est super eam, et spiritum calcantibus eam:
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 Ego Dominus vocavi te in justitia, et apprehendi manum tuam, et servavi te: et dedi te in fœdus populi, in lucem gentium,
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 ut aperires oculos cæcorum, et educeres de conclusione vinctum, de domo carceris sedentes in tenebris.
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 Ego Dominus, hoc est nomen meum; gloriam meam alteri non dabo, et laudem meam sculptilibus.
I am the Lord; that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to pictured images.
9 Quæ prima fuerunt, ecce venerunt; nova quoque ego annuntio: antequam oriantur, audita vobis faciam.]
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 [Cantate Domino canticum novum, laus ejus ab extremis terræ, qui descenditis in mare, et plenitudo ejus; insulæ, et habitatores earum.
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 Sublevetur desertum et civitates ejus. In domibus habitabit Cedar: laudate, habitatores petræ; de vertice montium clamabunt.
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 Ponent Domino gloriam, et laudem ejus in insulis nuntiabunt.
Let them give glory to the Lord, sounding his praise in the sea-lands.
13 Dominus sicut fortis egredietur, sicut vir præliator suscitabit zelum; vociferabitur, et clamabit: super inimicos suos confortabitur.]
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 [Tacui semper, silui, patiens fui: sicut parturiens loquar; dissipabo, et absorbebo simul.
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 Desertos faciam montes et colles, et omne gramen eorum exsiccabo; et ponam flumina in insulas, et stagna arefaciam.
I will make waste mountains and hills, drying up all their plants; and I will make rivers dry, and pools dry land.
16 Et ducam cæcos in viam quam nesciunt, et in semitis quas ignoraverunt ambulare eos faciam; ponam tenebras coram eis in lucem, et prava in recta; hæc verba feci eis, et non dereliqui eos.
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 Conversi sunt retrorsum, confundantur confusione, qui confidunt in sculptili; qui dicunt conflatili: Vos dii nostri.
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 Surdi, audite, et cæci, intuemini ad videndum.
Give ear, you whose ears are shut; and let your eyes be open, you blind, so that you may see.
19 Quis cæcus, nisi servus meus; et surdus, nisi ad quem nuntios meos misi? quis cæcus, nisi qui venundatus est? et quis cæcus, nisi servus Domini?
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 Qui vides multa, nonne custodies? qui apertas habes aures, nonne audies?
Seeing much, but keeping nothing in mind; his ears are open, but there is no hearing.
21 Et Dominus voluit ut sanctificaret eum, et magnificaret legem, et extolleret.
It was the Lord's pleasure, because of his righteousness, to make the teaching great and give it honour.
22 Ipse autem populus direptus, et vastatus; laqueus juvenum omnes, et in domibus carcerum absconditi sunt; facti sunt in rapinam, nec est qui eruat; in direptionem, nec est qui dicat: Redde.
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 Quis est in vobis qui audiat hoc, attendat, et auscultet futura?
Who is there among you who will give ear to this? who will give attention to it for the time to come?
24 Quis dedit in direptionem Jacob, et Israël vastantibus? nonne Dominus ipse, cui peccavimus? Et noluerunt in viis ejus ambulare, et non audierunt legem ejus.
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 Et effudit super eum indignationem furoris sui, et forte bellum; et combussit eum in circuitu, et non cognovit; et succendit eum, et non intellexit.]
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.
