Isaiah 41:21-42:17

English Standard Version

The Futility of Idols

²¹Set forth your case, says the Lord;
    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
²²Let them bring them, and ^(A)tell us
    what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
    that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
    or declare to us the things to come.
²³^(B)Tell us what is to come hereafter,
    that we may know that you are gods;
^(C)do good, or do harm,
    that we may be dismayed and terrified.^[a]
²⁴Behold, ^(D)you are nothing,
    and your work is less than nothing;
    an abomination is he who chooses you.

²⁵^(E)I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
    ^(F)from the rising of the sun, ^(G)and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
    as the potter treads clay.
²⁶^(H)Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
    none who heard your words.
²⁷^(I)I was the first to say^[b] to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
    and ^(J)I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
²⁸^(K)But when I look, there is no one;
    among these there is no counselor
    who, when I ask, gives an answer.
²⁹^(L)Behold, they are all a delusion;
    their works are nothing;
    their metal images are empty wind.

The Lord's Chosen Servant

42 ^(M)Behold ^(N)my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, ^(O)in whom my soul delights;
^(P)I have put my Spirit upon him;
    ^(Q)he will bring forth justice to the nations.
²He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
³^(R)a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    ^(S)he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴He will not grow faint or be discouraged^[c]
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and ^(T)the coastlands wait for his law.

⁵Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens ^(U)and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
^(V)who gives breath to the people on it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶“I am the Lord; ^(W)I have called you^[d] in righteousness;
    I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you ^(X)as a covenant for the people,
    ^(Y)a light for the nations,
⁷    ^(Z)to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    ^(AA)from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸I am the Lord; that is my name;
    ^(AB)my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to carved idols.
⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,
    ^(AC)and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
    I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a New Song

¹⁰^(AD)Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise from the end of the earth,
^(AE)you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
    ^(AF)the coastlands and their inhabitants.
¹¹Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
    the villages that ^(AG)Kedar inhabits;
let the habitants of ^(AH)Sela sing for joy,
    let them shout from the top of the mountains.
¹²Let them give glory to the Lord,
    and declare his praise in ^(AI)the coastlands.
¹³^(AJ)The Lord goes out like a mighty man,
    like a man of war ^(AK)he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, ^(AL)he shouts aloud,
    he shows himself mighty against his foes.

¹⁴For a long time I have held my peace;
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out ^(AM)like a woman in labor;
    I will gasp and pant.
¹⁵^(AN)I will lay waste mountains and hills,
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,^[e]
    and dry up the pools.
¹⁶^(AO)And I will lead the blind
    in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    ^(AP)the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
    and I do not forsake them.
¹⁷^(AQ)They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
    who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
    “You are our gods.”