Isaiah 41:17-43:13

New King James Version

¹⁷“The poor and needy seek water, but there is none,
Their tongues fail for thirst.
I, the Lord, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not ^(A)forsake them.
¹⁸I will open ^(B)rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the ^(C)wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree,
The myrtle and the oil tree;
I will set in the ^(D)desert the cypress tree and the pine
And the box tree together,
²⁰^(E)That they may see and know,
And consider and understand together,
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

²¹“Present your case,” says the Lord.
“Bring forth your strong reasons,” says the ^(F)King of Jacob.
²²“Let^(G) them bring forth and show us what will happen;
Let them show the ^(H)former things, what they were,
That we may ^[a]consider them,
And know the latter end of them;
Or declare to us things to come.
²³^(I)Show the things that are to come hereafter,
That we may know that you are gods;
Yes, ^(J)do good or do evil,
That we may be dismayed and see it together.
²⁴Indeed ^(K)you are nothing,
And your work is nothing;
He who chooses you is an abomination.

²⁵“I have raised up one from the north,
And he shall come;
From the ^[b]rising of the sun ^(L)he shall call on My name;
^(M)And he shall come against princes as though mortar,
As the potter treads clay.
²⁶^(N)Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know?
And former times, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’?
Surely there is no one who shows,
Surely there is no one who declares,
Surely there is no one who hears your words.
²⁷^(O)The first time ^(P)I said to Zion,
‘Look, there they are!’
And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.
²⁸^(Q)For I looked, and there was no man;
I looked among them, but there was no counselor,
Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
²⁹^(R)Indeed they are all ^[c]worthless;
Their works are nothing;
Their molded images are wind and confusion.

The Servant of the Lord

42 “Behold! ^(S)My Servant whom I uphold,
My ^[d]Elect One in whom My soul ^(T)delights!
^(U)I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
²He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
³A bruised reed He will not break,
And ^[e]smoking flax He will not ^[f]quench;
He will bring forth justice for truth.
⁴He will not fail nor be discouraged,
Till He has established justice in the earth;
^(V)And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

⁵Thus says God the Lord,
^(W)Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,
^(X)Who gives breath to the people on it,
And spirit to those who walk on it:
⁶“I,^(Y) the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You ^(Z)and give You as a covenant to the people,
As ^(AA)a light to the Gentiles,
⁷^(AB)To open blind eyes,
To ^(AC)bring out prisoners from the prison,
Those who sit in ^(AD)darkness from the prison house.
⁸I am the Lord, that is My name;
And My ^(AE)glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images.
⁹Behold, 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^(AF)Sing to the Lord a new song,
And His praise from the ends of the earth,
^(AG)You who go down to the sea, and ^[g]all that is in it,
You coastlands and you inhabitants of them!
¹¹Let 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.
¹²Let them give glory to the Lord,
And declare His praise in the coastlands.
¹³The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man;
He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war.
He shall cry out, ^(AH)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 ^[h]labor,
I will pant and gasp at once.
¹⁵I 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.
¹⁶I 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.
¹⁷They shall be ^(AI)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^(AJ)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, ^(AK)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 ^[i]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?
^(AL)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;
^(AM)It has set him on fire all around,
^(AN)Yet he did not know;
And it burned him,
Yet he did not take it to ^(AO)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, ^(AP)for I have redeemed you;
^(AQ)I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
²^(AR)When you pass through the waters, ^(AS)I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you ^(AT)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;
^(AU)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 ^(AV)loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
⁵^(AW)Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And ^(AX)gather you from the west;
⁶I will say to the ^(AY)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 ^(AZ)called by My name,
Whom ^(BA)I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

⁸^(BB)Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the ^(BC)deaf who have ears.
⁹Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
^(BD)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^(BE) are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
^(BF)“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and ^(BG)believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
¹¹I, even I, ^(BH)am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
¹²I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no ^(BI)foreign god among you;
^(BJ)Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the Lord, “that I am God.
¹³^(BK)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 ^(BL)reverse it?”