Isaiah 42
Christian Standard Bible
The Servant’s Mission
42 “This(A) is my servant;(B) I strengthen him,
this is my chosen one;(C) I delight in him.(D)
I have put my Spirit on him;(E)
he will bring justice[a] to the nations.(F)
2 He will not cry out or shout
or make his voice heard in the streets.
3 He will not break a bruised reed,
and he will not put out a smoldering wick;
he will faithfully bring justice.
4 He will not grow weak or be discouraged
until he has established justice on earth.
The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction.”(G)
5 This is what God, the Lord, says—
who created the heavens and stretched them out,(H)
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,(I)
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it(J)—
6 “I am the Lord. I have called you
for a righteous purpose,[b](K)
and I will hold you by your hand.(L)
I will watch over you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people(M)
and a light to the nations,(N)
7 in order to open blind eyes,(O)
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,(P)
and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
8 I am the Lord. That is my name,
and I will not give my glory to another(Q)
or my praise to idols.
9 The past events have indeed happened.
Now I declare new events;(R)
I announce them to you before they occur.”
A Song of Praise
10 Sing a new song to the Lord;(S)
sing his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,(T)
you coasts and islands with your[c] inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities shout,
the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.(U)
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;(V)
let them cry out from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and declare his praise in the coasts and islands.
13 The Lord advances like a warrior;
he stirs up his zeal like a soldier.(W)
He shouts, he roars aloud,
he prevails over his enemies.
14 “I have kept silent from ages past;
I have been quiet and restrained myself.(X)
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,(Y)
gasping breathlessly.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up marshes.(Z)
16 I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;(AA)
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them(AB)
and rough places into level ground.(AC)
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not abandon them.(AD)
17 They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—
those who trust in an idol
and say to a cast image,
‘You are our gods!’ (AE)
Israel’s Blindness and Deafness
18 “Listen, you deaf!
Look, you blind, so that you may see.(AF)
19 Who is blind but my servant,(AG)
or deaf like my messenger I am sending?
Who is blind like my dedicated one,[d]
or blind like the servant of the Lord?
20 Though seeing many things,[e] you pay no attention.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”(AH)
21 Because of his righteousness, the Lord was pleased
to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder(AI)
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”
23 Who among you will hear this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.
24 Who gave Jacob to the robber,[f]
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against him?
They were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not listen to his instruction.
25 So he poured out his furious anger
and the power of war on Jacob.
It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;
it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.(AJ)
Isaiah 42
Lexham English Bible
The Mission of Yahweh’s Servant
42 Look! here is my servant; I hold him,
my chosen one, in whom my soul delights.
I have put[a] my spirit on him;
he will bring justice forth to the nations.
2 He will not cry out and lift up
and make his voice heard in the street.
3 He will not break a broken reed,
and he not will extinguish a dim wick.
He will bring justice forth in[b] faithfulness.
4 He will not grow faint,
and he will not be broken
until he has established justice in the earth.
And the coastlands wait for his teaching.
5 Thus says the God, Yahweh,
who created the heavens
and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and its offspring,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it.
6 “I am Yahweh; I have called you in righteousness,
and I have grasped your hand and watched over you;
and I have given you as a covenant of the people,
as a light of the nations,
7 to open the blind eyes,
to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon,
those who sit in darkness from the house of imprisonment.
8 I am Yahweh; that is my name,
and I do not give my glory to another,
nor[c] my praise to the idols.
9 Look! the former things have come,
and I declare new things.
I announce[d] them to you before they sprout up.”
A Song of Praise to Yahweh
10 Sing a new song to Yahweh;
praise him from the end of the earth,
you[e] who go down to the sea and that which fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout loudly from the top[f] of the mountains.
12 Let them give[g] glory to Yahweh
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 Yahweh goes forth like a mighty warrior;
he stirs up zeal like a man of war.
He raises the war cry, indeed he raises the battle shout;
he prevails against his foes.
14 I have been silent for a long time;
I have kept silent;
I have restrained myself like one giving birth;
I will moan, pant, and gasp together.
15 I will cause mountains and hills to dry up,
and I will cause all their herbage to wither;
and I will make rivers like islands,
and I will cause pools to dry up.
16 And I will lead the blind by a road they do not know;
I will cause them to tread on paths they have not known.
I will make darkness in their presence[h] into light
and rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17 They shall turn back;
they shall be greatly ashamed,[i]
those who trust in an image,
who say to a cast image, “You are our gods.”
Blind and Deaf Israel
18 Deaf people, listen!
And blind people, look to see!
19 Who is blind but my servant
or[j] deaf like my messenger whom I sent?
Who is blind like the one who is repaid
or[k] blind like the servant of Yahweh?
20 You see many things, but[l] you do not observe.
His ears are open, but[m] he does not hear.
21 Yahweh was willing for the sake of his righteousness;
he showed his teaching to be great and proved it to be glorious.
22 But[n] this is a people plundered and looted; all of them are trapped in holes,
and they are kept hidden in houses of imprisonment.
They have become like plunder, and there is no one who saves;
like booty, and there is no one who says, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will heed this,
will listen attentively and listen, for the time to come?[o]
24 Who gave Jacob to a plunderer[p]
and Israel to those who plunder?
Was it not Yahweh, against whom[q] we have sinned?
And they were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not obey[r] his law.
25 So[s] he poured the wrath of his anger upon him
and the strength of war.
And it set him afire all around, but[t] he did not understand;[u]
and it burned him, but[v] he did not take it to heart.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 42:1 Literally “given”
- Isaiah 42:3 Or “to”
- Isaiah 42:8 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:9 Literally “cause to hear”
- Isaiah 42:10 Or “those”
- Isaiah 42:11 Literally “head”
- Isaiah 42:12 Or “establish”
- Isaiah 42:16 Literally “before their face”
- Isaiah 42:17 Literally “ashamed with shame”
- Isaiah 42:19 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:19 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:20 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:20 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:22 Or “And”
- Isaiah 42:23 Literally “later”
- Isaiah 42:24 The reading tradition (Qere) has “as plunder”
- Isaiah 42:24 Or “this”
- Isaiah 42:24 Literally “hear”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “did not know”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “and”
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