Isaiah 42–43

THE SERVANT’S MISSION

42“This^o is my servant;^p I strengthen him,

this is my chosen one;^q I delight in him.^r

I have put my Spirit on him;^s

he will bring justice^C to the nations.^t

²He will not cry out or shout

or make his voice heard in the streets.

³He will not break a bruised reed,

and he will not put out a smoldering wick;

he will faithfully bring justice.

⁴He will not grow weak or be discouraged

until he has established justice on earth.

The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction.”^u

⁵This is what God, the Lord, says—

who created the heavens and stretched them out,^v

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,^w

who gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk on it^x—

⁶“I am the Lord. I have called you

for a righteous purpose,^Dy

and I will hold you by your hand.^z

I will watch over you, and I will appoint you

to be a covenant for the people^a

and a light to the nations,^b

⁷in order to open blind eyes,^c

to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,^d

and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.

⁸I am the Lord. That is my name,

and I will not give my glory to another^e

or my praise to idols.

⁹The past events have indeed happened.

Now I declare new events;^f

I announce them to you before they occur.”

A SONG OF PRAISE

¹⁰Sing a new song to the Lord;^g

sing his praise from the ends of the earth,

you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,^h

you coasts and islands with your^A inhabitants.

¹¹Let the desert and its cities shout,

the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.ⁱ

Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;^j

let them cry out from the mountaintops.

¹²Let them give glory to the Lord

and declare his praise in the coasts and islands.

¹³The Lord advances like a warrior;

he stirs up his zeal like a soldier.^k

He shouts, he roars aloud,

he prevails over his enemies.

¹⁴“I have kept silent from ages past;

I have been quiet and restrained myself.^l

But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,^m

gasping breathlessly.

¹⁵I will lay waste mountains and hills

and dry up all their vegetation.

I will turn rivers into islands

and dry up marshes.ⁿ

¹⁶I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;^o

I will guide them on paths they have not known.

I will turn darkness to light in front of them^p

and rough places into level ground.^q

This is what I will do for them,

and I will not abandon them.^r

¹⁷They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—

those who trust in an idol

and say to a cast image,

‘You are our gods!’^s

ISRAEL’S BLINDNESS AND DEAFNESS

¹⁸“Listen, you deaf!

Look, you blind, so that you may see.^t

¹⁹Who is blind but my servant,^u

or deaf like my messenger I am sending?

Who is blind like my dedicated one,^B

or blind like the servant of the Lord?

²⁰Though seeing many things,^C you pay no attention.

Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”^v

²¹Because of his righteousness, the Lord was pleased

to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.

²²But this is a people plundered and looted,

all of them trapped in holes

or imprisoned in dungeons.

They have become plunder^w

with no one to rescue them

and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”

²³Who among you will hear this?

Let him listen and obey in the future.

²⁴Who gave Jacob to the robber,^D

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord?

Have we not sinned against him?

They were not willing to walk in his ways,

and they would not listen to his instruction.

²⁵So he poured out his furious anger

and the power of war on Jacob.

It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;

it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.^x

RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

43Now this is what the Lord says—

the one who created you, Jacob,

and the one who formed you, Israel^a—

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;^b

I have called you by your name; you are mine.^c

²When you pass through the waters,^e

I will be with you^d

and the rivers will not overwhelm you,

When you walk through the fire,^f

you will not be scorched

and the flame will not burn you.

³For I am the Lord your God,^g

the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.^h

I have given Egypt as a ransom for you,

Cush and Seba in your place.

⁴Because you are precious in my sightⁱ

and honored, and I love you,^j

I will give people in exchange for you

and nations instead of your life.

⁵Do not fear, for I am with you;

I will bring your descendants from the east,^k

and gather you from the west.^l

⁶I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’

and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’

Bring my sons from far away,^m

and my daughters from the ends of the earthⁿ—

⁷everyone who bears my name

and is created for my glory.

I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”

⁸Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes,^o

and are deaf, yet have ears.

⁹All the nations are gathered together,

and the peoples are assembled.^p

Who among them can declare this,^q

and tell us the former things?

Let them present their witnesses

to vindicate themselves,

so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”

¹⁰“You are my witnesses”^r—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“and my servant whom I have chosen,^s

so that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.^t

No god was formed before me,

and there will be none after me.^u

¹¹I—I am the Lord.

Besides me, there is no Savior.^v

¹²I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—

and not some foreign god^A among you.

So you are my witnesses”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“and^B I am God.^w

¹³Also, from today on I am he alone,

and none can rescue from my power.^x

I act, and who can reverse it?”^y

GOD’S DELIVERANCE OF REBELLIOUS ISRAEL

¹⁴This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,^z the Holy One of Israel^aa says:

Because of you, I will send an army^C to Babylon

and bring all of them as fugitives,^D

even the Chaldeans^ab in the ships in which they rejoice.^E

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says—

who makes a way in the sea,

and a path through raging water,^ac

¹⁷who brings out the chariot and horse,^ad

the army and the mighty one together

(they lie down, they do not rise again;

they are extinguished, put out like a wick^ae)—

¹⁸“Do not remember the past events;

pay no attention to things of old.^af

¹⁹Look, I am about to do something new;^ag

even now it is coming. Do you not see it?

Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,^ah

rivers^F in the desert.

²⁰Wild animals—

jackals and ostriches—will honor me,

because I provide water in the wilderness,

and rivers in the desert,^a

to give drink to my chosen people.

²¹The people I formed for myself

will declare my praise.^b

²²“But, Jacob, you have not called on me,

because, Israel, you have become weary of me.^c

²³You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings

or honored me with your sacrifices.^d

I have not burdened you with offerings

or wearied you with incense.^G

²⁴You have not bought me aromatic cane with silver,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

you have wearied me^e with your iniquities.^f

²⁵“I am the one, I sweep away your transgressions^g

for my own sake^h

and remember your sins no more.ⁱ

²⁶Remind me. Let’s argue the case together.^j

Recount the facts, so that you may be vindicated.

²⁷Your first father sinned,^k

and your mediators have rebelled against me.^l

²⁸So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary,

and set Jacob apart for destruction^m

and Israel for scorn.