Isaiah 42:10-43:21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Hymn of Praise
10 Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar[a] and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.(A)
11 Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela shout for joy;
let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and declare his praise in the coastlands.(B)
13 The Lord goes forth like a soldier;
like a warrior he stirs up his fury;
he cries out; he shouts aloud;
he shows himself mighty against his foes.(C)
14 For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.(D)
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.(E)
16 I will lead the blind
by a road they do not know;
by paths they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.(F)
17 They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—
those who trust in carved images,
who say to cast images,
“You are our gods.”(G)
18 Listen, you who are deaf,
and you who are blind, look up and see!
19 Who is blind but my servant
or deaf like my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind like my dedicated one
or blind like the servant of the Lord?(H)
20 He sees many things, but he does[b] not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.(I)
Israel’s Disobedience
21 The Lord was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness,
to magnify his teaching and make it glorious.(J)
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered;
all of them are trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons;
they have become a prey with no one to rescue,
a spoil with no one to say, “Restore!”(K)
23 Who among you will give heed to this;
who will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler
and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom they sinned,[c]
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?(L)
25 So he poured upon him the heat of his anger
and the fury of war;
it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;
it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.(M)
Restoration and Protection Promised
43 But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are mine.(N)
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.(O)
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.(P)
4 Because you are precious in my sight
and honored and I love you,
I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.(Q)
5 Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;(R)
6 I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not withhold;
bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth—(S)
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”(T)
8 Bring forth the people who are blind yet have eyes,
who are deaf yet have ears!(U)
9 Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this
and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, “It is true.”(V)
10 You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.(W)
11 I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no savior.(X)
12 I am the one who declared and saved and proclaimed,
not some strange god among you;
you are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God.(Y)
13 Indeed, since that day I am he;
there is no one who can deliver from my hand;
I work, and who can hinder it?(Z)
14 Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
For your sake I will send to Babylon
and break down all the bars,
and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentation.[d](AA)
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus says the Lord,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,(AB)
17 who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down; they cannot rise;
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:(AC)
18 Do not remember the former things
or consider the things of old.(AD)
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.(AE)
20 The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,(AF)
21 the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.(AG)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.