Isaiah 42

New American Standard Bible

God’s Promise concerning His Servant

42 “^(A)Behold, My ^(B)Servant, whom I ^[a]uphold;
My ^(C)chosen one in whom My ^(D)soul delights.
I have put My ^(E)Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth ^(F)justice to the ^[b]nations.
²He will not cry out nor raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
³A bent reed He will not break off
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth ^(G)justice.
⁴He will not be ^(H)disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice on the earth;
And the ^(I)coastlands will wait expectantly for His ^[c]law.”

⁵This is what God the Lord says,

Who ^(J)created the heavens and ^(K)stretched them out,
Who spread out the ^(L)earth and its ^[d]offspring,
Who ^(M)gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶“I am the Lord, I have ^(N)called You in righteousness,
I will also ^(O)hold You by the hand and ^(P)watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a ^(Q)covenant to the people,
As a ^(R)light to the nations,
⁷To ^(S)open blind eyes,
To ^(T)bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
⁸^(U)I am the Lord, that is ^(V)My name;
I will not give My ^(W)glory to another,
Nor My praise to idols.
⁹Behold, the ^(X)former things have come to pass,
Now I declare ^(Y)new things;
Before they sprout I proclaim them to you.”

¹⁰Sing to the Lord a ^(Z)new song,
Sing His praise from the ^(AA)end of the earth!
^(AB)You who go down to the sea, and ^(AC)all that is in it;
You ^(AD)islands, and those who live on them.
¹¹Let the ^(AE)wilderness and its cities raise their voices,
The settlements which ^(AF)Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of ^(AG)Sela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the ^(AH)mountains.
¹²Let them ^(AI)give glory to the Lord
And declare His praise in the ^(AJ)coastlands.
¹³^(AK)The Lord will go out like a warrior,
He will stir His ^(AL)zeal like a man of war.
He will shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry.
He will ^(AM)prevail against His enemies.

The Blindness of the People

¹⁴“^(AN)I 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.
¹⁵I will ^(AO)lay waste the mountains and hills
And wither all their vegetation;
I will ^(AP)turn the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.
¹⁶I will ^(AQ)lead those who are blind by a way they have not known,
In paths they have not known I will guide them.
I will ^(AR)turn darkness into light before them
And ^(AS)uneven land into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will ^(AT)not leave them undone.”
¹⁷They will be turned back and be ^(AU)utterly put to shame,
Who trust in ^[e]idols,
Who say to cast metal images,
“You are our gods.”

¹⁸^(AV)Hear, you who are deaf!
And look, you who are blind, so that you may see.
¹⁹Who is blind but My ^(AW)servant,
Or so deaf as My ^(AX)messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as one who is ^[f]^(AY)at peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?
²⁰^(AZ)You have seen many things, but you do not retain them;
Your ears are open, but no one hears.
²¹The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake
To make the Law ^(BA)great and glorious.
²²But this is a people plundered and pillaged;
All of them are ^(BB)trapped in ^[g]caves,
Or are ^(BC)hidden away in prisons;
They have become plunder, with no one to save them,
And spoils with no one to say, “Give them back!”

²³Who among you will listen to this?
Who will pay attention and listen in the time to come?
²⁴Who gave Jacob up for spoils, and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they ^(BD)were not willing to walk,
And whose Law they did not ^(BE)obey?
²⁵So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
And the ^(BF)fierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not recognize it;
And it burned him, but he ^[h]^(BG)paid no attention.

Footnotes

Isaiah 42:1 Or hold fast
Isaiah 42:1 Or Gentiles
Isaiah 42:4 Or instruction
Isaiah 42:5 Or vegetation
Isaiah 42:17 Or carved images
Isaiah 42:19 Or the devoted one
Isaiah 42:22 Or holes
Isaiah 42:25 Lit did not lay it to heart

Revelation 12

New American Standard Bible

The Woman, Israel

12 A great ^(A)sign appeared ^(B)in heaven: ^(C)a woman ^(D)clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; ²and she was pregnant and she *^(E)cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

The Red Dragon, Satan

³Then ^(F)another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red ^(G)dragon having ^(H)seven heads and ^(I)ten horns, and on his heads were ^(J)seven crowns. ⁴And his tail *swept away a ^(K)third of the stars of heaven and ^(L)hurled them to the earth. And the ^(M)dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth ^(N)he might devour her Child.

The Male Child, Christ

⁵And ^(O)she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to ^[a]^(P)rule all the ^[b]nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was ^(Q)caught up to God and to His throne. ⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there ^[c]she would be nourished for ^(R)1,260 days.

The Angel, Michael

⁷And there was war in heaven, ^(S)Michael and his angels waging war with the ^(T)dragon. The dragon and ^(U)his angels waged war, ⁸and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. ⁹And the great ^(V)dragon was thrown down, the ^(W)serpent of old who is called the devil and ^(X)Satan, who ^(Y)deceives the whole ^[d]world; he was ^(Z)thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ¹⁰Then I heard ^(AA)a loud voice in heaven, saying,

“Now the ^(AB)salvation, and the power, and the ^(AC)kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the ^(AD)accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. ¹¹And they ^(AE)overcame him because of ^(AF)the blood of the Lamb and because of ^(AG)the word of their testimony, and they ^(AH)did not love their life even ^[e]when faced with death. ¹²For this reason, ^(AI)rejoice, you heavens and ^(AJ)you who dwell in them. ^(AK)Woe to the earth and the sea, because ^(AL)the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only ^(AM)a short time.”

¹³And when the ^(AN)dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted ^(AO)the woman who gave birth to the male Child. ¹⁴But the ^(AP)two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly ^(AQ)into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for ^(AR)a time, times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵And the ^(AS)serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. ¹⁶^[f]But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth. ¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to ^(AT)make war with the rest of her ^[g]^(AU)children, who ^(AV)keep the commandments of God and ^(AW)hold to the testimony of Jesus.