Isaiah 42–43

Chapter 42

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.”

⁵Thus says God the Lord,

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,

⁷To ^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.”

¹⁰Sing 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.

¹¹Let 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.

¹²Let them ^agive glory to the Lord

And declare His praise in the ^bcoastlands.

^13aThe 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.

The Blindness of the People

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.”

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

Who trust in ¹idols,

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 the Lord?

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

Your ears are open, but none hears.

²¹The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake

To make the law ^agreat and glorious.

²²But 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!”

²³Who among you will give ear to this?

Who will give heed and listen hereafter?

²⁴Who 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?

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 recognize it;

And it burned him, but he ^1bpaid no attention.

Chapter 43

Israel Redeemed

¹But now, thus says the Lord, 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 the Lord your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your ^bSavior;

I have given Egypt as your ransom,

^1cCush 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 offspring 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 God’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 proclaim to us 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 the Lord,

“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 the Lord,

And there is no ^asavior ^bbesides Me.

¹²“It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,

And there was no ^astrange god among you;

So you are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“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?”

Babylon to Be Destroyed

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

“For your sake I have sent to Babylon,

And will bring them all down as fugitives,

¹Even the ^bChaldeans, into the ^cships ²in which they rejoice.

¹⁵“I am the Lord, your Holy One,

^aThe Creator of Israel, your ^bKing.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord,

Who ^amakes a way through the sea

And a path through the mighty waters,

¹⁷Who brings forth the ^achariot and the horse,

The army and the mighty man

(They will lie down together and not rise again;

They have been ^bquenched and extinguished like a wick):

¹⁸“^aDo not call to mind the former things,

Or ponder things of the past.

¹⁹“Behold, I will do something ^anew,

Now it will spring forth;

Will you not be aware of it?

I will even ^bmake a roadway in the wilderness,

Rivers in the desert.

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 desert,

To give drink to My chosen people.

²¹“The people whom ^aI formed for Myself

^bWill declare My praise.

The Shortcomings of Israel

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 ^bhonored Me with your sacrifices.

I have not ^cburdened you with ¹offerings,

Nor wearied you with ^dincense.

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

Nor have you ²filled 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“¹Put Me in remembrance, ^alet us argue our case together;

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

²⁷“Your ^afirst ¹forefather sinned,

And your ^2bspokesmen have ³transgressed against Me.

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

And I will consign Jacob to the ^aban and Israel to ^brevilement.