Isaiah 42:1-4

Common English Bible

God’s servant described

42 But here is my servant, the one I uphold;
    my chosen, who brings me delight.
I’ve put my spirit upon him;
    he will bring justice to the nations.
²He won’t cry out or shout aloud
    or make his voice heard in public.
³He won’t break a bruised reed;
    he won’t extinguish a faint wick,
    but he will surely bring justice.
⁴He won’t be extinguished or broken
    until he has established justice in the land.
The coastlands await his teaching.

Read full chapter

Isaiah 49:1-6

Common English Bible

The servant speaks up

49 Listen to me, coastlands;
    pay attention, peoples far away.
The Lord called me before my birth,
    called my name when I was in my mother’s womb.
²He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
    and hid me in the shadow of God’s own hand.
He made me a sharpened arrow,
        and concealed me in God’s quiver,
³    saying to me, “You are my servant,
        Israel, in whom I show my glory.”
⁴But I said, “I have wearied myself in vain.
    I have used up my strength for nothing.”
Nevertheless, the Lord will grant me justice;
    my reward is with my God.
⁵And now the Lord has decided—
    the one who formed me from the womb as his servant—
    to restore Jacob to God,
    so that Israel might return to him.
    Moreover, I’m honored in the Lord’s eyes;
    my God has become my strength.
⁶He said: It is not enough, since you are my servant,
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the survivors of Israel.
    Hence, I will also appoint you as light to the nations
    so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Read full chapter

Isaiah 50:4-7

Common English Bible

God’s faithful servant

⁴The Lord God gave me an educated tongue
    to know how to respond to the weary
    with a word that will awaken them in the morning.^[a]
    God awakens my ear in the morning to listen,
    as educated people do.
⁵The Lord God opened my ear;
    I didn’t rebel; I didn’t turn my back.
⁶Instead, I gave my body to attackers,
    and my cheeks to beard pluckers.
I didn’t hide my face
    from insults and spitting.
⁷The Lord God will help me;
    therefore, I haven’t been insulted.
Therefore, I set my face like flint,
    and knew I wouldn’t be ashamed.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Isaiah 50:4 Heb uncertain

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Common English Bible

Suffering servant

¹³Look, my servant will succeed.
    He will be exalted and lifted very high.
¹⁴Just as many were appalled by you,
    he too appeared disfigured, inhuman,
    his appearance unlike that of mortals.
¹⁵But he will astonish^[a] many nations.
    Kings will be silenced because of him,
    because they will see what they haven’t seen before;
    what they haven’t heard before, they will ponder.

53 Who can believe what we have heard,
    and for whose sake has the Lord’s arm^[b] been revealed?
²He grew up like a young plant before us,^[c]
    like a root from dry ground.
He possessed no splendid form for us to see,
    no desirable appearance.
³He was despised and avoided by others;
    a man who suffered, who knew sickness well.
Like someone from whom people hid their faces,
    he was despised, and we didn’t think about him.

⁴It was certainly our sickness that he carried,
    and our sufferings that he bore,
    but we thought him afflicted,
    struck down by God and tormented.
⁵He was pierced because of our rebellions
    and crushed because of our crimes.
    He bore the punishment that made us whole;
    by his wounds we are healed.
⁶Like sheep we had all wandered away,
    each going its own way,
    but the Lord let fall on him all our crimes.

⁷He was oppressed and tormented,
    but didn’t open his mouth.
Like a lamb being brought to slaughter,
    like a ewe silent before her shearers,
    he didn’t open his mouth.

⁸Due to an unjust ruling he was taken away,
    and his fate—who will think about it?
He was eliminated from the land of the living,
    struck dead because of my people’s rebellion.
⁹His grave was among the wicked,
    his tomb with evildoers,^[d]
    though he had done no violence,
    and had spoken nothing false.

¹⁰But the Lord wanted to crush him
    and to make him suffer.
If his life is offered^[e] as restitution,
    he will see his offspring; he will enjoy long life.
    The Lord’s plans will come to fruition through him.
¹¹After his deep anguish he will see light,^[f] and he will be satisfied.
Through his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant,
    will make many righteous,
    and will bear their guilt.
¹²Therefore, I will give him a share with the great,
    and he will divide the spoil with the strong,
    in return for exposing his life to death
    and being numbered with rebels,
    though he carried the sin of many
    and pleaded on behalf of those who rebelled.