Isaiah 41:1–42:25
1 “aCoastlands, listen to Me bin silence,
And let the peoples cgain new strength;
dLet them come forward, then let them speak;
eLet us come together for judgment.
2 “aWho has aroused one from the east
Whom He bcalls in righteousness to His 1feet?
He cdelivers up nations before him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like ddust with his sword,
As the wind-driven echaff with his bow.
3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been 1traversing with his feet.
4 “aWho has performed and accomplished it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
‘bI, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. cI am He.’ ”
5 The acoastlands have seen and are afraid;
The bends of the earth tremble;
They have drawn near and have come.
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 So the acraftsman encourages the bsmelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he fastens it with nails,
cSo that it will not totter.
8 “But you, Israel, aMy servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of bAbraham My cfriend,
9 You whom I have 1ataken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its bremotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are cMy servant,
I have dchosen you and not rejected you.
10 ‘Do not afear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely bI will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous cright hand.’
11 “Behold, aall those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
bThose who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 “aYou will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, awho upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘bDo not fear, I will help you.’
14 “Do not fear, you aworm Jacob, you men of Israel;
I will help you,” declares the Lord, “1and byour Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
aYou will thresh the bmountains and pulverize them,
And will make the hills like chaff.
16 “You will awinnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will brejoice in the Lord,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The 1afflicted and needy are seeking awater, but there is none,
And their tongue is parched with thirst;
I, the Lord, bwill answer them Myself,
As the God of Israel I cwill not forsake them.
18 “I will open arivers on the bare heights
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make bthe wilderness a pool of water
And the dry land fountains of water.
19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia and the amyrtle and the 1olive tree;
I will place the ajuniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,
20 That athey may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the bhand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “1Present your case,” the Lord says.
“Bring forward your strong arguments,”
The aKing of Jacob says.
22 aLet them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the bformer events, declare what they were,
That we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
23 aDeclare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, bdo good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24 Behold, ayou are of 1no account,
And byour work amounts to nothing;
He who chooses you is an cabomination.
25 “I have aroused aone from the north, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon bmortar,
Even as the potter treads clay.”
26 Who has adeclared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
Surely there was bno one who declared,
Surely there was no one who proclaimed,
Surely there was no one who heard your words.
27 “aFormerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a bmessenger of good news.’
28 “But awhen I look, there is no one,
And there is no bcounselor 1among them
Who, if I ask, can cgive an answer.
29 “Behold, all of them are 1false;
Their molten images are cwind and emptiness.
God’s Promise concerning His Servant
1 “aBehold, My bServant, whom I 1uphold;
My cchosen one in whom My dsoul delights.
I have put My eSpirit upon Him;
He will bring forth fjustice to the 2nations.
2 “He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3 “A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth ajustice.
4 “He will not be adisheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the bcoastlands will wait expectantly for His 1law.”
Who acreated the heavens and bstretched them out,
Who spread out the cearth and its 1offspring,
Who dgives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it,
6 “I am the Lord, I have acalled You in righteousness,
I will also bhold You by the hand and cwatch over You,
And I will appoint You as a dcovenant to the people,
As a elight to the nations,
7 To aopen blind eyes,
To bbring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
8 “aI am the Lord, that is bMy name;
I will not give My cglory to another,
Nor My praise to 1graven images.
9 “Behold, the aformer things have come to pass,
Now I declare bnew things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”
10 Sing to the Lord a anew song,
Sing His praise from the bend of the earth!
cYou who go down to the sea, and dall that is in it.
You eislands, and those who dwell on them.
11 Let the awilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The settlements where bKedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of cSela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the dmountains.
12 Let them agive glory to the Lord
And declare His praise in the bcoastlands.
13 aThe Lord will go forth like a warrior,
He will arouse His bzeal like a man of war.
He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
He will cprevail against His enemies.
14 “aI 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.
15 “I will alay waste the mountains and hills
And wither all their vegetation;
I will bmake the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.
16 “I will alead the blind by a way they do not know,
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will bmake darkness into light before them
And crugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will dnot leave them undone.”
17 They will be turned back and be autterly put to shame,
Who trust in 1idols,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
18 aHear, you deaf!
And look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind but My aservant,
Or so deaf as My bmessenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is 1cat peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 aYou have seen many things, but you do not observe them;
Your ears are open, but none hears.
21 The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake
To make the law agreat and glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and despoiled;
All of them are atrapped in 1caves,
Or are bhidden away in prisons;
They have become a prey with none to deliver them,
And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will give heed and listen hereafter?
24 Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they awere not willing to walk,
And whose law they did not bobey?
25 So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
And the afierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not recognize it;