Isaiah 42–55

Chapter 42

¹Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth! I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations. ²He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. ³A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment according to truth. ⁴He shall not faint nor be in haste, till he have set justice in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

⁵Thus saith •God, Jehovah, he that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth and its productions, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: ⁶I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will take hold of thy hand; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations, ⁷to open the blind eyes, to bring forth the prisoner from the prison, them that sit in darkness out of the house of restraint. ⁸I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. ⁹Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth will I cause you to hear them. ¹⁰Sing unto Jehovah a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles and their inhabitants. ¹¹Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains: ¹²let them give glory unto Jehovah, and declare his praise in the islands.

¹³Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man, he will stir up jealousy like a man of war: he will cry, yea, he will shout; he will shew himself mighty against his enemies. ¹⁴Long time have I holden my peace; I have been still, I have restrained myself: I will cry like a woman that travaileth; I will blow and pant at once. ¹⁵I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. ¹⁶And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not, in paths that they know not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. ¹⁷They shall be turned back, they shall be covered with shame, that confide in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

¹⁸—Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. ¹⁹Who is blind, but my servant? and deaf, as my messenger whom I sent? Who is blind as he in whom I have trusted, and blind as Jehovah’s servant, ²⁰—seeing many things, and thou observest not? With opened ears, he heareth not. ²¹Jehovah had delight in him for his righteousness’ sake: he hath magnified the law, and made it honourable. ²²But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and hidden in prison-houses; they are become a prey, and none delivereth, —a spoil, and none saith, Restore. ²³Who among you will give ear to this, who will hearken and hear what is to come? ²⁴Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not Jehovah, he against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, neither did they hearken unto his law. ²⁵And he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he took it not to heart.

Chapter 43

¹But now thus saith Jehovah, that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. ²When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. ³For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. ⁴Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee; and I will give men for thee, and peoples for thy life. ⁵Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; ⁶I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth, ⁷every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory: I have formed him, yea, I have made him.

⁸Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. ⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them declareth this, or causeth us to hear former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth. ¹⁰Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am HE: before me there was no •God formed, neither shall there be after me. ¹¹I, I am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. ¹²It is I that have declared, and have saved, and have shewed, when there was no strange god among you; and ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, that I am •God. ¹³Yea, since the day was, I am HE, and there is none that delivereth out of my hand: I will work, and who shall hinder it?

¹⁴Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. ¹⁵I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. ¹⁶Thus saith Jehovah, who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, ¹⁷who bringeth forth chariot and horse, army and power—they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as tow: ¹⁸—Remember not the former things, neither consider the ancient things: ¹⁹behold, I do a new thing; now it shall spring forth: shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the waste. ²⁰The beast of the field shall glorify me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I will give waters in the wilderness, rivers in the waste, to give drink to my people, my chosen. ²¹This people have I formed for myself: they shall shew forth my praise.

²²—But thou hast not called upon me, Jacob; for thou hast been weary of me, O Israel: ²³thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings, neither hast thou glorified me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to toil with an oblation, nor wearied thee with incense. ²⁴Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast made me to toil with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. ²⁵—I, I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and I will not remember thy sins. ²⁶Put me in remembrance, let us plead together; rehearse thine own cause, that thou mayest be justified. ²⁷Thy first father hath sinned, and thy mediators have rebelled against me. ²⁸And I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the ban, and Israel to reproaches.

Chapter 44

¹And now hear, Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen: ²thus saith Jehovah, that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who helpeth thee, Fear not, Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. ³For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. ⁴And they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the water-courses. ⁵One shall say, I am Jehovah’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall write with his hand: I am Jehovah’s, and surname himself by the name of Israel. ⁶Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. ⁷And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the coming things, and those that shall happen, let them declare unto them. ⁸Fear not, neither be afraid. Have I not caused thee to hear from that time, and have declared it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a †God beside me? yea, there is no Rock: I know not any.

⁹They that form a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things are of no profit; and they are their own witnesses: they see not, nor know; —that they may be ashamed. ¹⁰Who hath formed a •god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen are but men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up: they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together. ¹²The iron-smith hath a chisel, and he worketh in the coals, and he fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm; —but he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he hath not drunk water, and he is faint. ¹³The worker in wood stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with red chalk; he formeth it with sharp tools, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of man: that it may remain in the house. ¹⁴When he heweth him down cedars, he taketh also a holm-oak and a terebinth—he chooseth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth a pine, and the rain maketh it grow. ¹⁵And it shall be for a man to burn, and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; he kindleth it also, and baketh bread; he maketh also a •god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. ¹⁶He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he is warm, and saith, Aha, I am become warm, I have seen the fire. ¹⁷And with the remainder…