Isaiah 42–43

CHAPTER 42

Yahweh’s Chosen Servant

¹“^aBehold, My ^bServant, whom I ¹uphold;

My ^cchosen one in whom My ^dsoul is well-pleased.

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 crushed reed He will not break

And a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will bring forth ^ajustice in truth.

⁴“He will not be ^afaint or crushed

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the ^bcoastlands will wait expectantly for His ¹law.”

⁵Thus says the God, Yahweh,

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 Yahweh, I have ^acalled You in righteousness;

I will also ^btake hold of You by the hand and ^cguard You,

And I will give You as a ^dcovenant to the people,

As a ^elight to the nations,

⁷To ^aopen blind eyes,

To ^bbring out prisoners from the dungeon

And those who inhabit darkness from the prison.

⁸“^aI am Yahweh, 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 cause you to hear them.”

¹⁰Sing to Yahweh a ^anew song,

Sing His praise from the ^bend of the earth!

^cYou who go down to the sea, ^das well as its fullness.

You ^ecoastlands, and those who inhabit them.

¹¹Let the ^awilderness and its cities lift up their voices,

The villages where ^bKedar inhabits.

Let the inhabitants of ^cSela sing aloud,

Let them shout for joy from the tops of the ^dmountains.

¹²Let them ^agive glory to Yahweh

And declare His praise in the ^bcoastlands.

^13aYahweh will go forth like a warrior;

He will awaken His ^bzeal like a man of war.

He will make a loud shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry.

He will ^cprevail against His enemies.

Israel’s Blindness and Deafness

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 dry up all their vegetation;

I will ^bmake the rivers into coastlands

And dry up the pools of waters.

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 forsake them.”

¹⁷They will be turned back and be ^autterly put to shame,

Who trust in graven images,

Who say to molten images,

“You are our gods.”

^18aHear, you deaf!

And look, you blind, that you may see.

¹⁹Who 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 Yahweh?

^20aYou have seen many things, but you do not keep them;

Your ears are open, but none hears.

²¹Yahweh was pleased for His righteousness’ sake

That He make the law ^agreat and majestic.

²²But this is a people plundered and pillaged as spoil;

All of them are ^atrapped in ¹caves,

Or are ^bhidden away in prisons;

They have become a plunder with none to deliver them,

And a spoil, with none to say, “Have them return!”

²³Who among you will give ear to this?

Who will give heed and hear hereafter?

²⁴Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?

Was it not Yahweh, against whom we have sinned,

And in whose ways they ^awere not willing to walk,

And whose law they did not ^bobey?

²⁵So 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 know it;

And it burned him, but he did not ^bset it upon his heart.

CHAPTER 43

The Redemption of Israel

¹But now, thus says Yahweh, your ^aCreator, O Jacob,

And He who ^bformed you, O Israel,

“Do not ^cfear, for I have ^dredeemed you;

I have ^ecalled you by name; you are ^fMine!

²“When you ^apass through the waters, ^bI will be with you;

And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

When you ^cwalk through the fire, you will not be scorched,

Nor will the flame burn you.

³“For ^aI am Yahweh your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your ^bSavior;

I have given Egypt as your ransom,

^1cEthiopia and Seba in your place.

⁴“Since you are ^aprecious in My sight,

Since you are ^bhonored and I ^clove you,

I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.

⁵“Do not fear, for ^aI am with you;

I will bring ^byour seed from the east,

And ^cgather you from the west.

⁶“I will say to the ^anorth, ‘Give them up!’

And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’

Bring My ^bsons from afar

And My daughters from the ^cends of the earth,

⁷Everyone who is ^acalled by My name,

And whom I have ^bcreated for My ^cglory,

^dWhom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

Israel Is Yahweh’s Witness

⁸Bring out the people who are ^ablind, even though they have eyes,

And the deaf, even though they have ears.

⁹All the nations have ^agathered together

So that the peoples may be assembled.

Who among them can ^bdeclare this

And make us hear the former things?

Let them present ^ctheir witnesses ^dthat they may be justified,

Or let them hear and say, “It is true.”

¹⁰“You are ^aMy witnesses,” declares Yahweh,

“And ^bMy servant whom I have chosen,

So that you may know and believe Me

And understand that ^cI am He.

^dBefore Me there was no god formed,

And there will be none after Me.

¹¹“I, even I, am Yahweh,

And there is no ^asavior ^bbesides Me.

¹²“It is I who have declared and saved and caused it to be heard,

And there was no ^astrange god among you;

So you are My witnesses,” declares Yahweh,

“And I am God.

¹³“Even ^1afrom eternity ^bI am He,

And there is ^cnone who can deliver out of My hand;

^dI act and who can reverse it?”

Rivers in the Wasteland

¹⁴Thus says Yahweh your ^aRedeemer, the Holy One of Israel,

“For your sake I have sent to Babylon,

And will bring down those who fled—all of them,

¹Even the ^bChaldeans—into the ^cships ²in which they shouted for joy.

¹⁵“I am Yahweh, your Holy One,

^aThe Creator of Israel, your ^bKing.”

¹⁶Thus says Yahweh,

Who ^amakes a way through the sea

And a path through the mighty waters,

¹⁷Who brings forth the ^achariot and the horse,

The military force and the mighty man;

They will lie down together and not rise again;

They have been ^bextinguished and quenched like a wick:

¹⁸“^aDo not remember the former things,

Nor carefully consider things of the past.

¹⁹“Behold, I will do something ^anew;

Now it will spring forth;

Will you not know it?

I will even ^bmake a roadway in the wilderness,

Rivers in the wasteland.

²⁰“The beasts of the field will glorify Me,

The ^ajackals and the ostriches,

Because I have ^bgiven waters in the wilderness

And rivers in the wasteland,

To give drink to My chosen people.

²¹“The people whom ^aI formed for Myself

^bWill recount My praise.

²²“Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob;

But you have become ^aweary of Me, O Israel.

²³“You have ^anot brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings,

Nor have you ^bglorified Me with your sacrifices.

I have not ^cburdened you with ¹offerings,

Nor wearied you with ^dfrankincense.

²⁴“You have not bought Me ^1asweet cane with money,

Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices;

Rather you have burdened Me with your sins;

You have ^bwearied Me with your iniquities.

²⁵“I, even I, am the one who ^awipes out your transgressions ^bfor My own sake,

And I will ^cnot remember your sins.

²⁶“¹Bring Me to remembrance, ^alet us enter into judgment together;

Recount your cause, ^bthat you may be proved right.

²⁷“Your ^afirst father sinned,

And your ^1bspokesmen have ²transgressed against Me.

²⁸“So I will ¹profane the ²princes of the sanctuary,

And I will give Jacob to be ^adevoted to destruction and Israel to ^brevilement.