Isaiah 42
New King James Version
The Servant of the Lord
42 “Behold! (A)My Servant whom I uphold,
My [a]Elect One in whom My soul (B)delights!
(C)I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed He will not break,
And [b]smoking flax He will not [c]quench;
He will bring forth justice for truth.
4 He will not fail nor be discouraged,
Till He has established justice in the earth;
(D)And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”
5 Thus says God the Lord,
(E)Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
(F)Who gives breath to the people on it,
And spirit to those who walk on it:
6 “I,(G) the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You (H)and give You as a covenant to the people,
As (I)a light to the Gentiles,
7 (J)To open blind eyes,
To (K)bring out prisoners from the prison,
Those who sit in (L)darkness from the prison house.
8 I am the Lord, that is My name;
And My (M)glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images.
9 Behold, 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
10 (N)Sing to the Lord a new song,
And His praise from the ends of the earth,
(O)You who go down to the sea, and [d]all that is in it,
You coastlands and you inhabitants of them!
11 Let 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.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
And declare His praise in the coastlands.
13 The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man;
He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war.
He shall cry out, (P)yes, 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 [e]labor,
I will pant and gasp at once.
15 I 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.
16 I 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.
17 They shall be (Q)turned 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.
19 (R)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?
20 Seeing many things, (S)but you do not observe;
Opening the ears, but he does not hear.”
Israel’s Obstinate Disobedience
21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;
He will exalt the law and make it honorable.
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered;
All of them are [f]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!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the Lord,
He against whom we have sinned?
(T)For they would not walk in His ways,
Nor were they obedient to His law.
25 Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger
And the strength of battle;
(U)It has set him on fire all around,
(V)Yet he did not know;
And it burned him,
Yet he did not take it to (W)heart.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 42:1 Chosen
- Isaiah 42:3 dimly burning
- Isaiah 42:3 extinguish
- Isaiah 42:10 Lit. its fullness
- Isaiah 42:14 childbirth
- Isaiah 42:22 Or trapped in caves
Isaiah 42
Revised Standard Version
The Servant, a Light to the Nations
42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him,
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not fail[a] or be discouraged[b]
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread forth the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”
A Hymn of Praise
10 Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar[c] and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 The Lord goes forth like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his fury;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in travail,
I will gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
16 And I will lead the blind
in a way that they know not,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in graven images,
who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
18 Hear, you deaf;
and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 He sees[d] many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
Israel’s Disobedience
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered,
they are all of them trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons;
they have become a prey with none to rescue,
a spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler,
and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25 So he poured upon him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire round about, but he did not understand;
it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 42:4 Or burn dimly
- Isaiah 42:4 Or bruised
- Isaiah 42:10 Cn Compare Ps 96.11; 98.7: Heb Those who go down to the sea
- Isaiah 42:20 Heb you see
Revelation 12
New King James Version
The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
12 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out (A)in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, (B)a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 (C)His tail drew a third (D)of the stars of heaven (E)and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood (F)before the woman who was ready to give birth, (G)to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child (H)who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was (I)caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then (J)the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there (K)one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Satan Thrown Out of Heaven
7 And war broke out in heaven: (L)Michael and his angels fought (M)with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they [a]did not prevail, nor was a place found for [b]them in heaven any longer. 9 So (N)the great dragon was cast out, (O)that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, (P)who deceives the whole world; (Q)he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, (R)“Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, (S)who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And (T)they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, (U)and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore (V)rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! (W)Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, (X)because he knows that he has a short time.”
The Woman Persecuted
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted (Y)the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 (Z)But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, (AA)that she might fly (AB)into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished (AC)for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent (AD)spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus [c]Christ.
Footnotes
- Revelation 12:8 were not strong enough
- Revelation 12:8 M him
- Revelation 12:17 NU, M omit Christ
Revelation 12
Revised Standard Version
The Woman and the Dragon
12 And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. 3 And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; 5 she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Michael Defeats the Dragon
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
The Dragon Fights Again on Earth
13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood[a] on the sand of the sea.
Footnotes
- Revelation 12:17 Other ancient authorities read And I stood, connecting the sentence with 13.1
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.