Isaiah 42–43

The Servant of the Lord

42“Behold! ^aMy Servant whom I uphold,

My ¹Elect One in whom My soul ^bdelights!

^cI have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

²He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,

Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

³A bruised reed He will not break,

And ²smoking flax He will not ³quench;

He will bring forth justice for truth.

⁴He will not fail nor be discouraged,

Till He has established justice in the earth;

^dAnd the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

⁵Thus says God the Lord,

^eWho created the heavens and stretched them out,

Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,

^fWho gives breath to the people on it,

And spirit to those who walk on it:

⁶“I, ^gthe Lord, have called You in righteousness,

And will hold Your hand;

I will keep You ^hand give You as a covenant to the people,

As ⁱa light to the Gentiles,

^7jTo open blind eyes,

To ^kbring out prisoners from the prison,

Those who sit in ^ldarkness from the prison house.

⁸I am the Lord, that is My name;

And My ^mglory I will not give to another,

Nor My praise to carved images.

⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,

And new things I declare;

Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Praise to the Lord

¹⁰ⁿSing to the Lord a new song,

And His praise from the ends of the earth,

^oYou who go down to the sea, and ⁴all that is in it,

You coastlands and you inhabitants of them!

¹¹Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice,

The villages that Kedar inhabits.

Let the inhabitants of Sela sing,

Let them shout from the top of the mountains.

¹²Let them give glory to the Lord,

And declare His praise in the coastlands.

¹³The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man;

He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war.

He shall cry out, ^pyes, shout aloud;

He shall prevail against His enemies.

Promise of the Lord’s Help

¹⁴“I have held My peace a long time,

I have been still and restrained Myself.

Now I will cry like a woman in ⁵labor,

I will pant and gasp at once.

¹⁵I will lay waste the mountains and hills,

And dry up all their vegetation;

I will make the rivers coastlands,

And I will dry up the pools.

¹⁶I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;

I will lead them in paths they have not known.

I will make darkness light before them,

And crooked places straight.

These things I will do for them,

And not forsake them.

¹⁷They shall be ^qturned back,

They shall be greatly ashamed,

Who trust in carved images,

Who say to the molded images,

‘You are our gods.’

¹⁸“Hear, you deaf;

And look, you blind, that you may see.

^19rWho is blind but My servant,

Or deaf as My messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as he who is perfect,

And blind as the Lord’s servant?

²⁰Seeing many things, ^sbut you do not observe;

Opening the ears, but he does not hear.”

Israel’s Obstinate Disobedience

²¹The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;

He will exalt the law and make it honorable.

²²But this is a people robbed and plundered;

All of them are ⁶snared in holes,

And they are hidden in prison houses;

They are for prey, and no one delivers;

For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!”

²³Who among you will give ear to this?

Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

²⁴Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers?

Was it not the Lord,

He against whom we have sinned?

^tFor they would not walk in His ways,

Nor were they obedient to His law.

²⁵Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger

And the strength of battle;

^uIt has set him on fire all around,

^vYet he did not know;

And it burned him,

Yet he did not take it to ^wheart.

The Redeemer of Israel

43But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,

And He who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, ^afor I have redeemed you;

^bI have called you by your name;

You are Mine.

^2cWhen you pass through the waters, ^dI will be with you;

And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.

When you ^ewalk through the fire, you shall not be burned,

Nor shall the flame scorch you.

³For I am the Lord your God,

The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

^fI gave Egypt for your ransom,

Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

⁴Since you were precious in My sight,

You have been honored,

And I have ^gloved you;

Therefore I will give men for you,

And people for your life.

^5hFear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your descendants from the east,

And ⁱgather you from the west;

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

And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’

Bring My sons from afar,

And My daughters from the ends of the earth—

⁷Everyone who is ^kcalled by My name,

Whom ^lI have created for My glory;

I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

^8mBring out the blind people who have eyes,

And the ⁿdeaf who have ears.

⁹Let all the nations be gathered together,

And let the people be assembled.

^oWho among them can declare this,

And show us former things?

Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;

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

¹⁰“You ^pare My witnesses,” says the Lord,

^q“And My servant whom I have chosen,

That you may know and ^rbelieve Me,

And understand that I am He.

Before Me there was no God formed,

Nor shall there be after Me.

¹¹I, even I, ^sam the Lord,

And besides Me there is no savior.

¹²I have declared and saved,

I have proclaimed,

And there was no ^tforeign god among you;

^uTherefore you are My witnesses,”

Says the Lord, “that I am God.

^13vIndeed before the day was, I am He;

And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;

I work, and who will ^wreverse it?”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,

The Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I will send to Babylon,

And bring them all down as fugitives—

The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,

The Creator of Israel, your ^xKing.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord, who ^ymakes a way in the sea

And a ^zpath through the mighty waters,

¹⁷Who ^abrings forth the chariot and horse,

The army and the power

(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;

They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):

¹⁸“Do ^bnot remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

¹⁹Behold, I will do a ^cnew thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

^dI will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert.

²⁰The beast of the field will honor Me,

The jackals and the ostriches,

Because ^eI give waters in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert,

To give drink to My people, My chosen.

^21fThis people I have formed for Myself;

They shall declare My ^gpraise.

Pleading with Unfaithful Israel

²²“But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;

And you ^hhave been weary of Me, O Israel.

²³ⁱYou have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings,

Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.

I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings,

Nor wearied you with incense.

²⁴You have bought Me no sweet cane with money,

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

But you have burdened Me with your sins,

You have ^jwearied Me with your iniquities.

²⁵“I, even I, am He who ^kblots out your transgressions ^lfor My own sake;

^mAnd I will not remember your sins.

²⁶Put Me in remembrance;

Let us contend together;

State your case, that you may be ¹acquitted.

²⁷Your first father sinned,

And your ²mediators have transgressed against Me.

²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;

ⁿI will give Jacob to the curse,

And Israel to reproaches.