Isaiah 41-42

New American Standard Bible

Israel Encouraged

41 “^(A)Listen to Me ^(B)in silence, you coastlands,
And let the peoples ^(C)gain new strength;
^(D)Let them come forward, then let them speak;
^(E)Let’s come together for judgment.
²^(F)Who has stirred one from the east
Whom He ^(G)calls in righteousness to His ^[a]feet?
He ^(H)turns nations over to him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like ^(I)dust with his sword,
Like the wind-driven ^(J)chaff with his bow.
³He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been ^[b]traversing with his feet.
⁴^(K)Who has performed and accomplished it,
Summoning the generations from the beginning?
‘^(L)I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. ^(M)I am He.’”

⁵The ^(N)coastlands have seen and are afraid;
The ^(O)ends of the earth tremble;
They have approached and have come.
⁶Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
⁷So the ^(P)craftsman encourages the ^(Q)smelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he fastens it with nails,
^(R)So that it will not totter.
⁸“But you, Israel, ^(S)My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of ^(T)Abraham My ^(U)friend,
⁹You whom I have ^[c]^(V)taken from the ends of the earth
And called from its ^(W)remotest parts,
And said to you, ‘You are ^(X)My servant,
I have ^(Y)chosen you and have not rejected you.
¹⁰Do not ^(Z)fear, for I am with you;
Do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, ^(AA)I will also help you,
I will also uphold you with My righteous ^(AB)right hand.’
¹¹Behold, ^(AC)all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
^(AD)Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
¹²^(AE)You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
¹³For I am the Lord your God ^(AF)who takes hold of your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘^(AG)Do not fear, I will help you.’
¹⁴Do not fear, you ^(AH)worm Jacob, you people of Israel;
I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and ^(AI)your ^[d]Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵Behold, I turned you into a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
^(AJ)You will thresh the ^(AK)mountains and pulverize them,
And make the hills like chaff.
¹⁶You will ^(AL)winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will ^(AM)rejoice in the Lord,
You will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷“The poor and needy are seeking ^(AN)water, but there is none,
And their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, ^(AO)will answer them Myself;
As the God of Israel I ^(AP)will not abandon them.
¹⁸I will open ^(AQ)rivers on the bare heights,
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make ^(AR)the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land fountains of water.
¹⁹I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia, the ^(AS)myrtle, and the olive tree;
I will place the ^(AT)juniper in the desert,
Together with the elm tree and the cypress,
²⁰So that ^(AU)they may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the ^(AV)hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹“^[e]Present your case,” the Lord says.
“Bring forward your evidence,”
The ^(AW)King of Jacob says.
²²^(AX)Let them bring them forward and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the ^(AY)former events, declare what they were,
So that we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
²³^(AZ)Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
So that we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, ^(BA)do good or evil, that we may be afraid and fear together.
²⁴Behold, ^(BB)you are less than nothing,
And ^(BC)your work is less than nothing!
He who chooses you is an ^(BD)abomination.

²⁵“I have put ^(BE)one from the north into motion, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon ^[f]^(BF)mortar,
As the potter treads on clay.”
²⁶Who has ^(BG)declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
There was ^(BH)no one at all who declared,
There was no one at all who proclaimed,
There was no one at all who heard your words.
²⁷“^(BI)Previously I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a ^(BJ)messenger of good news.’
²⁸But ^(BK)when I look, there is no one,
And there is no ^(BL)counselor ^[g]among them
Who, if I ask, can ^(BM)give an answer.
²⁹Behold, all of them are ^[h]false;
Their ^(BN)works are ^(BO)nothing,
Their cast metal images are ^(BP)wind and emptiness.

God’s Promise concerning His Servant

42 “^(BQ)Behold, My ^(BR)Servant, whom I ^[i]uphold;
My ^(BS)chosen one in whom My ^(BT)soul delights.
I have put My ^(BU)Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth ^(BV)justice to the ^[j]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 ^(BW)justice.
⁴He will not be ^(BX)disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice on the earth;
And the ^(BY)coastlands will wait expectantly for His ^[k]law.”

⁵This is what God the Lord says,

Who ^(BZ)created the heavens and ^(CA)stretched them out,
Who spread out the ^(CB)earth and its ^[l]offspring,
Who ^(CC)gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶“I am the Lord, I have ^(CD)called You in righteousness,
I will also ^(CE)hold You by the hand and ^(CF)watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a ^(CG)covenant to the people,
As a ^(CH)light to the nations,
⁷To ^(CI)open blind eyes,
To ^(CJ)bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
⁸^(CK)I am the Lord, that is ^(CL)My name;
I will not give My ^(CM)glory to another,
Nor My praise to idols.
⁹Behold, the ^(CN)former things have come to pass,
Now I declare ^(CO)new things;
Before they sprout I proclaim them to you.”

¹⁰Sing to the Lord a ^(CP)new song,
Sing His praise from the ^(CQ)end of the earth!
^(CR)You who go down to the sea, and ^(CS)all that is in it;
You ^(CT)islands, and those who live on them.
¹¹Let the ^(CU)wilderness and its cities raise their voices,
The settlements which ^(CV)Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of ^(CW)Sela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the ^(CX)mountains.
¹²Let them ^(CY)give glory to the Lord
And declare His praise in the ^(CZ)coastlands.
¹³^(DA)The Lord will go out like a warrior,
He will stir His ^(DB)zeal like a man of war.
He will shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry.
He will ^(DC)prevail against His enemies.

The Blindness of the People

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

¹⁸^(DL)Hear, you who are deaf!
And look, you who are blind, so that you may see.
¹⁹Who is blind but My ^(DM)servant,
Or so deaf as My ^(DN)messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as one who is ^[n]^(DO)at peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?
²⁰^(DP)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 ^(DQ)great and glorious.
²²But this is a people plundered and pillaged;
All of them are ^(DR)trapped in ^[o]caves,
Or are ^(DS)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 ^(DT)were not willing to walk,
And whose Law they did not ^(DU)obey?
²⁵So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
And the ^(DV)fierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not recognize it;
And it burned him, but he ^[p]^(DW)paid no attention.