Isaiah 42:14-21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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.(A)
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.(B)
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.(C)
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.”(D)
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?(E)
20 He sees many things, but he does[a] not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.(F)
Israel’s Disobedience
21 The Lord was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness,
to magnify his teaching and make it glorious.(G)
Footnotes
- 42.20 Heb mss: MT You see many things but do
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.