Isaiah 42:18–43:21
Israel’s Failure to Hear and See
18 Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,4
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 hHe sees many things, but does not observe them;
ihis ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted;
they are all of them trapped in holes
jand hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, kbut he did not understand;
it burned him up, lbut he did not take it to heart.
43 But now thus says the Lord,
mhe who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
n“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
oI have called you by name, you are mine.
2 pWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
pwhen you walk through fire qyou shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For rI am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
sI give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and tSeba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
5 uFear not, for I am with you;
vI will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring wmy sons from afar
and wmy daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
8 Bring out xthe people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
9 yAll the nations gather together,
and the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
and let them hear and say, It is true.
10 z“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and amy servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
bBefore me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
11 cI, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no savior.
12 I declared and saved and proclaimed,
when there was no strange god among you;
and zyou are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.
13 Also dhenceforth I am he;
there is none who can deliver from my hand;
I work, and who can turn it back?”
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
e“For your sake I send to Babylon
and fbring them all down as fugitives,
geven the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.”
hwho makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17 who ibrings forth chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
jthey are extinguished, kquenched like a wick:
18 l“Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 mBehold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
nI will make a way in the wilderness
oand rivers in the desert.
20 The wild beasts will honor me,
pthe jackals and the ostriches,
qfor I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself
rthat they might declare my praise.