Isaiah42

¹“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.

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

³A bent reed He will not break off And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

⁴He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice on the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

⁵This is what God the Lord says, 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 spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶“I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,

⁷To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

⁸I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to idols.

⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they sprout I proclaim them to you.”

¹⁰Sing to the Lord a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it; You islands, and those who live on them.

¹¹Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, The settlements which Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.

¹²Let them give glory to the Lord And declare His praise in the coastlands.

¹³The Lord will go out like a warrior, He will stir His zeal like a man of war. He will shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.

¹⁴“I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant.

¹⁵I will lay waste the mountains and hills And wither all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into coastlands And dry up the ponds.

¹⁶I will lead those who are blind by a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them And uneven land into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.”

¹⁷They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols, Who say to cast metal images, “You are our gods.”

¹⁸Hear, you who are deaf! And look, you who are blind, so that you may see.

¹⁹Who is blind but My servant, Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as one who is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?

²⁰You have seen many things, but you do not retain them; Your ears are open, but no one hears.

²¹The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake To make the Law great and glorious.

²²But this is a people plundered and pillaged; All of them are trapped in caves, Or are hidden away in prisons; They have become plunder, with no one to save them, And spoils with no one to say, “Give them back!”

²³Who among you will listen to this? Who will pay attention and listen in the time to come?

²⁴Who gave Jacob up for spoils, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, And in whose ways they were not willing to walk, And whose Law they did not obey?

²⁵So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention.