Isaiah 42–43

The Lord’s Special Servant

42“Here is my servant, the one I support.

He is the one I chose, and I am pleased with him.

I have put my Spirit upon him,

and he will bring justice to all nations.

²He will not cry out or yell

or speak loudly in the streets.

³He will not break a crushed blade of grass

or put out even a weak flame.

He will truly bring justice;

⁴he will not lose hope or give up

until he brings justice to the world.

And people far away will trust his teachings.”

⁵God, the Lord, said these things.

He created the skies and stretched them out.

He spread out the earth and everything on it.

He gives life to all people on earth,

to everyone who walks on the earth.

⁶The Lord says, “I, the Lord, called you to do right,

and I will hold your hand

and protect you.

You will be the sign of my agreement with the people,

a light to shine for all people.

⁷You will help the blind to see.

You will free those who are in prison,

and you will lead those who live in darkness out of their prison.

⁸“I am the Lord. That is my name.

I will not give my glory to another;

I will not let idols take the praise that should be mine.

⁹The things I said would happen have happened,

and now I tell you about new things.

Before those things happen,

I tell you about them.”

A Song of Praise to the Lord

¹⁰Sing a new song to the Lord;

sing his praise everywhere on the earth.

Praise him, you people who sail on the seas and you animals who live in them.

Praise him, you people living in faraway places.

¹¹The deserts and their cities should praise him.

The settlements of Kedar should praise him.

The people living in Sela should sing for joy;

they should shout from the mountaintops.

¹²They should give glory to the Lord.

People in faraway lands should praise him.

¹³The Lord will march out like a strong soldier;

he will be excited like a man ready to fight a war.

He will shout out the battle cry

and defeat his enemies.

¹⁴The Lord says, “For a long time I have said nothing;

I have been quiet and held myself back.

But now I will cry out

and strain like a woman giving birth to a child.

¹⁵I will destroy the hills and mountains

and dry up all their plants.

I will make the rivers become dry land

and dry up the pools of water.

¹⁶Then I will lead the blind along a way they never knew;

I will guide them along paths they have not known.

I will make the darkness become light for them,

and the rough ground smooth.

These are the things I will do;

I will not leave my people.

¹⁷But those who trust in idols,

who say to their statues,

‘You are our gods’

will be rejected in disgrace.

Israel Refused to Listen to the Lord

¹⁸“You who are deaf, hear me.

You who are blind, look and see.

¹⁹No one is more blind than my servant Israel

or more deaf than the messenger I send.

No one is more blind than the person I own

or more blind than the servant of the Lord.

²⁰Israel, you have seen much, but you have not obeyed.

You hear, but you refuse to listen.”

²¹The Lord made his teachings wonderful,

because he is good.

²²These people have been defeated and robbed.

They are trapped in pits

or locked up in prison.

Like robbers, enemies have taken them away,

and there is no one to save them.

Enemies carried them off,

and no one said, “Bring them back.”

²³Will any of you listen to this?

Will you listen carefully in the future?

²⁴Who let the people of Jacob be carried off?

Who let robbers take Israel away?

The Lord allowed this to happen,

because we sinned against him.

We did not live the way he wanted us to live

and did not obey his teaching.

²⁵So he became very angry with us

and brought terrible wars against us.

It was as if the people of Israel had fire all around them,

but they didn’t know what was happening.

It was as if they were burning,

but they didn’t pay any attention.

God Is Always with His People

43Now this is what the Lord says.

He created you, people of Jacob;

he formed you, people of Israel.

He says, “Don’t be afraid, because I have saved you.

I have called you by name, and you are mine.

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

When you cross rivers, you will not drown.

When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,

nor will the flames hurt you.

³This is because I, the Lord, am your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I gave Egypt to pay for you,

and I gave Cush and Seba to make you mine.

⁴Because you are precious to me,

because I give you honor and love you,

I will give other people in your place;

I will give other nations to save your life.

⁵Don’t be afraid, because I am with you.

I will bring your children from the east

and gather you from the west.

⁶I will tell the north: Give my people to me.

I will tell the south: Don’t keep my people in prison.

Bring my sons from far away

and my daughters from faraway places.

⁷Bring to me all the people who are mine,

whom I made for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

Judah Is God’s Witness

⁸Bring out the people who have eyes but don’t see

and those who have ears but don’t hear.

⁹All the nations gather together,

and all the people come together.

Which of their gods said this would happen?

Which of their gods can tell what happened in the beginning?

Let them bring their witnesses to prove they were right.

Then others will say, “It is true.”

¹⁰The Lord says, “You are my witnesses

and the servant I chose.

I chose you so you would know and believe me,

so you would understand that I am the true God.

There was no God before me,

and there will be no God after me.

¹¹I myself am the Lord;

I am the only Savior.

¹²I myself have spoken to you, saved you, and told you these things.

It was not some foreign god among you.

You are my witnesses, and I am God,”

says the Lord.

¹³“I have always been God.

No one can save people from my power;

when I do something, no one can change it.”

¹⁴This is what the Lord, who saves you,

the Holy One of Israel, says:

“I will send armies to Babylon for you,

and I will knock down all its locked gates.

The Babylonians will shout their cries of sorrow.

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”

God Will Save His People Again

¹⁶This is what the Lord says.

He is the one who made a road through the sea

and a path through rough waters.

¹⁷He is the one who defeated the chariots and horses

and the mighty armies.

They fell together and will never rise again.

They were destroyed as a flame is put out.

¹⁸The Lord says, “Forget what happened before,

and do not think about the past.

¹⁹Look at the new thing I am going to do.

It is already happening. Don’t you see it?

I will make a road in the desert

and rivers in the dry land.

²⁰Even the wild animals will be thankful to me—

the wild dogs and owls.

They will honor me when I put water in the desert

and rivers in the dry land

to give water to my people, the ones I chose.

²¹The people I made

will sing songs to praise me.

²²“People of Jacob, you have not called to me;

people of Israel, you have become tired of me.

²³You have not brought me your sacrifices of sheep

nor honored me with your sacrifices.

I did not weigh you down with sacrifices to offer

or make you tired with incense to burn.

²⁴So you did not buy incense for me;

you did not freely bring me fat from your sacrifices.

Instead you have weighed me down with your many sins;

you have made me tired of your many wrongs.

²⁵“I, I am the One who erases all your sins, for my sake;

I will not remember your sins.

²⁶But you should remind me.

Let’s meet and decide what is right.

Tell what you have done and show you are right.

²⁷Your first father sinned,

and your leaders have turned against me.

²⁸So I will make your holy rulers unholy.

I will bring destruction on the people of Jacob,

and I will let Israel be insulted.”