Isaiah 42
New Living Translation
The Lord’s Chosen Servant
42 “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen.
He is my chosen one, who pleases me.
I have put my Spirit upon him.
He will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout
or raise his voice in public.
3 He will not crush the weakest reed
or put out a flickering candle.
He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
4 He will not falter or lose heart
until justice prevails throughout the earth.
Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.[a]”
5 God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out.
He created the earth and everything in it.
He gives breath to everyone,
life to everyone who walks the earth.
And it is he who says,
6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.
I will take you by the hand and guard you,
and I will give you to my people, Israel,
as a symbol of my covenant with them.
And you will be a light to guide the nations.
7 You will open the eyes of the blind.
You will free the captives from prison,
releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.
8 “I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to anyone else,
nor share my praise with carved idols.
9 Everything I prophesied has come true,
and now I will prophesy again.
I will tell you the future before it happens.”
A Song of Praise to the Lord
10 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing his praises from the ends of the earth!
Sing, all you who sail the seas,
all you who live in distant coastlands.
11 Join in the chorus, you desert towns;
let the villages of Kedar rejoice!
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
shout praises from the mountaintops!
12 Let the whole world glorify the Lord;
let it sing his praise.
13 The Lord will march forth like a mighty hero;
he will come out like a warrior, full of fury.
He will shout his battle cry
and crush all his enemies.
14 He will say, “I have long been silent;
yes, I have restrained myself.
But now, like a woman in labor,
I will cry and groan and pant.
15 I will level the mountains and hills
and blight all their greenery.
I will turn the rivers into dry land
and will dry up all the pools.
16 I will lead blind Israel down a new path,
guiding them along an unfamiliar way.
I will brighten the darkness before them
and smooth out the road ahead of them.
Yes, I will indeed do these things;
I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols,
who say, ‘You are our gods,’
will be turned away in shame.
Israel’s Failure to Listen and See
18 “Listen, you who are deaf!
Look and see, you blind!
19 Who is as blind as my own people, my servant?
Who is as deaf as my messenger?
Who is as blind as my chosen people,
the servant of the Lord?
20 You see and recognize what is right
but refuse to act on it.
You hear with your ears,
but you don’t really listen.”
21 Because he is righteous,
the Lord has exalted his glorious law.
22 But his own people have been robbed and plundered,
enslaved, imprisoned, and trapped.
They are fair game for anyone
and have no one to protect them,
no one to take them back home.
23 Who will hear these lessons from the past
and see the ruin that awaits you in the future?
24 Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt?
It was the Lord, against whom we sinned,
for the people would not walk in his path,
nor would they obey his law.
25 Therefore, he poured out his fury on them
and destroyed them in battle.
They were enveloped in flames,
but they still refused to understand.
They were consumed by fire,
but they did not learn their lesson.
Footnotes
- 42:4 Greek version reads And his name will be the hope of all the world. Compare Matt 12:21.
Isaiah 42
International Standard Version
The Servant of the Lord
42 “Here is my servant, whom I support,
my chosen one, in whom I delight.[a]
I’ve placed my Spirit upon him;
and[b] he’ll deliver his[c] justice throughout the world.[d]
2 He won’t shout,
or raise his voice,
or make it heard in the street.
3 A crushed reed he will not break,
and a fading candle[e] he won’t snuff out.[f]
He’ll bring forth[g] justice for the truth.
4 And[h] he won’t grow faint or be crushed
until he establishes justice on the mainland,
and the coastlands take ownership of[i] his Law.”
God Speaks about the Servant
5 This is what God says—
the God[j] who created the heavens
and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and its produce,
who gives breath to the people on it
and life[k] to those who walk in it:
6 “I’ve[l] called you in righteousness.
I’ll take hold of your hand.
I’ll preserve you and appoint you
as a covenant to the people,[m]
as a light for the nations,
7 to open blind eyes
and to bring out those who are bound[n] from their cells,
and[o] those sitting in darkness from prison.
8 I, the Lord, am the one,
and I won’t give my name and[p] glory to another,
nor my praise to idols.
9 See, the former things have taken place,
and I’m announcing the[q] new things—
before they spring into being
I’m telling you about them.”
Praise in Song to God
10 Sing to the Lord a new song,
and[r] his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who sail down the sea and by everything in it,
you coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert cry out,[s]
its towns and the[t] villages where Kedar lives;
and[u] let those who live in Sela sing for joy.
Let them shout aloud[v] from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in the islands.
13 The Lord marches out like a warrior;
he stirs up his rage like a man of war;
he makes his anger heard;
he shouts aloud;[w]
he declares his mastery over his enemies:
14 “I have certainly[x] stayed silent for a long time;
I’ve kept still and held myself back.
Now, like a woman giving birth, I’ll cry out.
All of a sudden I’ll gasp and pant.
15 I’ll devastate the mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I’ll turn rivers into islands,
and dry up the ponds.
16 I’ll help the blind walk,
even[y] on a road they do not know;
I’ll guide them
in directions[z] they do not know.
I’ll turn the dark places[aa] into light in front of them,
and the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I won’t abandon them.
17 Those who trust in carved idols
will turn back and[ab] be completely disappointed,[ac]
along with those[ad] who say to metal images,
‘You are our gods.’”
God Rebukes Israel
18 “Listen, you deaf people,
and look up, you blind people, so you may see!
19 Who is blind except my servant,
or deaf like my messenger I am sending?
Who is blind like the one committed to me,
or blind like the Lord’s servant?
20 You’ve seen[ae] many things, but you pay no[af] attention.
His ears are open,[ag] but he doesn’t listen.
21 The Lord was pleased, for the sake of his vindication,
that he should magnify his Law and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people who have been robbed and plundered,
all of them trapped in pits
or hidden away in prisons.[ah]
They have become prey, with no one to rescue them;
they have been made loot, with no one to say, ‘Send them back!’
23 “Who among you will listen,
and[ai] pay attention,
and listen for the time to come?”
God Punishes Israel
24 “Who handed Jacob over to looters,
and Israel to robbers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned?
After all, they weren’t willing to walk in his ways,
and they wouldn’t obey[aj] his instruction,
25 so he drenched him with[ak] the heat that is his anger,[al]
the violence of war.
It enveloped him in flames,
but still he had no insight.
It burned him up,
but he didn’t take it to heart.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 42:1 Lit. whom my soul delights
- Isaiah 42:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
- Isaiah 42:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack his
- Isaiah 42:1 Lit. justice to the nations
- Isaiah 42:3 Lit. fading linen wick
- Isaiah 42:3 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads quench it
- Isaiah 42:3 I.e. will demonstrate
- Isaiah 42:4 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsah MT lack And
- Isaiah 42:4 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the islands wait for (cf. 4QIsah)
- Isaiah 42:5 So 1QIsaa; 1QIsaa corrector reads and; MT reads the Lord
- Isaiah 42:5 Lit. spirit
- Isaiah 42:6 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsah MT read I, the Lord, have; LXX reads I, the Lord God, have
- Isaiah 42:6 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsah reads as an everlasting covenant
- Isaiah 42:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsah MT read out prisoners
- Isaiah 42:7 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsah MT lack and
- Isaiah 42:8 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsah MT LXX read I am the Lord; that is my name. I won’t give my
- Isaiah 42:9 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsab 4QIsah MT LXX lack the
- Isaiah 42:10 So 1QIsaa; 4QIsah MT lack and
- Isaiah 42:11 So 1QIsaa 4QIsah LXX (sing.); MT (pl.)
- Isaiah 42:11 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read and its towns
- Isaiah 42:11 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
- Isaiah 42:11 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads them cry joyfully
- Isaiah 42:13 So 1QIsaa; MT reads He makes a war cry and shouts out his anger
- Isaiah 42:14 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks certainly
- Isaiah 42:16 Or and; so 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks even
- Isaiah 42:16 Lit. paths
- Isaiah 42:16 So 1QIsaa (misspelling places); MT LXX read darkness
- Isaiah 42:17 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
- Isaiah 42:17 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; MTms lacks disappointed
- Isaiah 42:17 1QIsaa MT LXX lack along with those
- Isaiah 42:20 So 1QIsaa MT; MTqere reads To see (or He sees )
- Isaiah 42:20 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; MTmss read he pays no
- Isaiah 42:20 So 1QIsaa; MT reads to open; or are open
- Isaiah 42:22 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsag reads prison
- Isaiah 42:23 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
- Isaiah 42:24 Or wouldn’t listen to
- Isaiah 42:25 Lit. he poured out on him
- Isaiah 42:25 So 1QIsaa LXX; 4QIsag MT read the heat, his anger
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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