Isaiah 42:18-44:23

New King James Version

¹⁸“Hear, you deaf;
And look, you blind, that you may see.
¹⁹^(A)Who 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, ^(B)but 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 ^[a]snared 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?
^(C)For 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;
^(D)It has set him on fire all around,
^(E)Yet he did not know;
And it burned him,
Yet he did not take it to ^(F)heart.

The Redeemer of Israel

43 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, ^(G)for I have redeemed you;
^(H)I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
²^(I)When you pass through the waters, ^(J)I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you ^(K)walk 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;
^(L)I 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 ^(M)loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
⁵^(N)Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And ^(O)gather you from the west;
⁶I will say to the ^(P)north, ‘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 ^(Q)called by My name,
Whom ^(R)I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

⁸^(S)Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the ^(T)deaf who have ears.
⁹Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
^(U)Who 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^(V) are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
^(W)“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and ^(X)believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
¹¹I, even I, ^(Y)am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
¹²I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no ^(Z)foreign god among you;
^(AA)Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the Lord, “that I am God.
¹³^(AB)Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will ^(AC)reverse 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 ^(AD)King.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord, who ^(AE)makes a way in the sea
And a ^(AF)path through the mighty waters,
¹⁷Who ^(AG)brings 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^(AH) not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
¹⁹Behold, I will do a ^(AI)new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
^(AJ)I 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 ^(AK)I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
²¹^(AL)This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My ^(AM)praise.

Pleading with Unfaithful Israel

²²“But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;
And you ^(AN)have been weary of Me, O Israel.
²³^(AO)You 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 ^(AP)wearied Me with your iniquities.

²⁵“I, even I, am He who ^(AQ)blots out your transgressions ^(AR)for My own sake;
^(AS)And I will not remember your sins.
²⁶Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be ^[b]acquitted.
²⁷Your first father sinned,
And your ^[c]mediators have transgressed against Me.
²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
^(AT)I will give Jacob to the curse,
And Israel to reproaches.

God’s Blessing on Israel

44 “Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant,
And Israel whom I have chosen.
²Thus says the Lord who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you:
‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;
And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
³For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
And floods on the dry ground;
I will pour My Spirit on your descendants,
And My blessing on your offspring;
⁴They will spring up among the grass
Like willows by the watercourses.’
⁵One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
Another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
Another will write with his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
And name himself by the name of Israel.

There Is No Other God

⁶“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
^(AU)‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.
⁷And ^(AV)who can proclaim as I do?
Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me,
Since I appointed the ancient people.
And the things that are coming and shall come,
Let them show these to them.
⁸Do not fear, nor be afraid;
^(AW)Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
^(AX)You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed ^(AY)there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’ ”

Idolatry Is Foolishness

⁹^(AZ)Those who make an image, all of them are useless,
And their precious things shall not profit;
They are their own witnesses;
^(BA)They neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed.
¹⁰Who would form a god or mold an image
^(BB)That profits him nothing?
¹¹Surely all his companions would be ^(BC)ashamed;
And the workmen, they are mere men.
Let them all be gathered together,
Let them stand up;
Yet they shall fear,
They shall be ashamed together.

¹²^(BD)The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals,
Fashions it with hammers,
And works it with the strength of his arms.
Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails;
He drinks no water and is faint.

¹³The craftsman stretches out his rule,
He marks one out with chalk;
He fashions it with a plane,
He marks it out with the compass,
And makes it like the figure of a man,
According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.
¹⁴He cuts down cedars for himself,
And takes the cypress and the oak;
He ^[d]secures it for himself among the trees of the forest.
He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it.

¹⁵Then it shall be for a man to burn,
For he will take some of it and warm himself;
Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread;
Indeed he makes a god and worships it;
He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
¹⁶He burns half of it in the fire;
With this half he eats meat;
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
He even warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm,
I have seen the fire.”
¹⁷And the rest of it he makes into a god,
His carved image.
He falls down before it and worships it,
Prays to it and says,
“Deliver me, for you are my god!”

¹⁸^(BE)They do not know nor understand;
For ^(BF)He has ^[e]shut their eyes, so that they cannot see,
And their hearts, so that they cannot ^(BG)understand.
¹⁹And no one ^(BH)considers in his heart,
Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
“I have burned half of it in the fire,
Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals;
I have roasted meat and eaten it;
And shall I make the rest of it an abomination?
Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”
²⁰He feeds on ashes;
^(BI)A deceived heart has turned him aside;
And he cannot deliver his soul,
Nor say, “Is there not a ^(BJ)lie in my right hand?”

Israel Is Not Forgotten

²¹“Remember these, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are My servant;
I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be ^(BK)forgotten by Me!
²²^(BL)I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for ^(BM)I have redeemed you.”

²³^(BN)Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
And ^(BO)glorified Himself in Israel.