Isaiah 42-43
Christian Standard Bible
The Servant’s Mission
42 “This(A) is my servant;(B) I strengthen him,
this is my chosen one;(C) I delight in him.(D)
I have put my Spirit on him;(E)
he will bring justice[a] to the nations.(F)
2 He will not cry out or shout
or make his voice heard in the streets.
3 He will not break a bruised reed,
and he will not put out a smoldering wick;
he will faithfully bring justice.
4 He will not grow weak or be discouraged
until he has established justice on earth.
The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction.”(G)
5 This is what God, the Lord, says—
who created the heavens and stretched them out,(H)
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,(I)
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it(J)—
6 “I am the Lord. I have called you
for a righteous purpose,[b](K)
and I will hold you by your hand.(L)
I will watch over you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people(M)
and a light to the nations,(N)
7 in order to open blind eyes,(O)
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,(P)
and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
8 I am the Lord. That is my name,
and I will not give my glory to another(Q)
or my praise to idols.
9 The past events have indeed happened.
Now I declare new events;(R)
I announce them to you before they occur.”
A Song of Praise
10 Sing a new song to the Lord;(S)
sing his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,(T)
you coasts and islands with your[c] inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities shout,
the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.(U)
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;(V)
let them cry out from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord
and declare his praise in the coasts and islands.
13 The Lord advances like a warrior;
he stirs up his zeal like a soldier.(W)
He shouts, he roars aloud,
he prevails over his enemies.
14 “I have kept silent from ages past;
I have been quiet and restrained myself.(X)
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,(Y)
gasping breathlessly.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up marshes.(Z)
16 I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;(AA)
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them(AB)
and rough places into level ground.(AC)
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not abandon them.(AD)
17 They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—
those who trust in an idol
and say to a cast image,
‘You are our gods!’ (AE)
Israel’s Blindness and Deafness
18 “Listen, you deaf!
Look, you blind, so that you may see.(AF)
19 Who is blind but my servant,(AG)
or deaf like my messenger I am sending?
Who is blind like my dedicated one,[d]
or blind like the servant of the Lord?
20 Though seeing many things,[e] you pay no attention.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”(AH)
21 Because of his righteousness, the Lord was pleased
to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder(AI)
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”
23 Who among you will hear this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.
24 Who gave Jacob to the robber,[f]
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against him?
They were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not listen to his instruction.
25 So he poured out his furious anger
and the power of war on Jacob.
It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;
it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.(AJ)
Restoration of Israel
43 Now this is what the Lord says—
the one who created you, Jacob,
and the one who formed you, Israel(AK)—
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;(AL)
I have called you by your name; you are mine.(AM)
2 When you pass through the waters,(AN)
I will be with you,(AO)
and the rivers will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire,(AP)
you will not be scorched,
and the flame will not burn you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,(AQ)
the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.(AR)
I have given Egypt as a ransom for you,
Cush and Seba in your place.
4 Because you are precious in my sight(AS)
and honored, and I love you,(AT)
I will give people in exchange for you
and nations instead of your life.
5 Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,(AU)
and gather you from the west.(AV)
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’
Bring my sons from far away,(AW)
and my daughters from the ends of the earth(AX)—
7 everyone who bears my name
and is created for my glory.
I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”
8 Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes,(AY)
and are deaf, yet have ears.
9 All the nations are gathered together,
and the peoples are assembled.(AZ)
Who among them can declare this,(BA)
and tell us the former things?
Let them present their witnesses
to vindicate themselves,
so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”
10 “You are my witnesses”(BB)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and my servant whom I have chosen,(BC)
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.(BD)
No god was formed before me,
and there will be none after me.(BE)
11 I—I am the Lord.
Besides me, there is no Savior.(BF)
12 I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—
and not some foreign god[g] among you.
So you are my witnesses”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and[h] I am God.(BG)
13 Also, from today on I am he alone,
and none can rescue from my power.(BH)
I act, and who can reverse it?” (BI)
God’s Deliverance of Rebellious Israel
14 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,(BJ) the Holy One of Israel(BK) says:
Because of you, I will send an army[i] to Babylon
and bring all of them as fugitives,[j]
even the Chaldeans(BL) in the ships in which they rejoice.[k]
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One,
the Creator of Israel, your King.
16 This is what the Lord says—
who makes a way in the sea,
and a path through raging water,(BM)
17 who brings out the chariot and horse,(BN)
the army and the mighty one together
(they lie down, they do not rise again;
they are extinguished, put out like a wick(BO))—
18 “Do not remember the past events;
pay no attention to things of old.(BP)
19 Look, I am about to do something new;(BQ)
even now it is coming. Do you not see it?
Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,(BR)
rivers[l] in the desert.
20 Wild animals—
jackals and ostriches—will honor me,
because I provide water in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert,(BS)
to give drink to my chosen people.
21 The people I formed for myself
will declare my praise.(BT)
22 “But, Jacob, you have not called on me,
because, Israel, you have become weary of me.(BU)
23 You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings
or honored me with your sacrifices.(BV)
I have not burdened you with offerings
or wearied you with incense.[m]
24 You have not bought me aromatic cane with silver,
or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins;
you have wearied me(BW) with your iniquities.(BX)
25 “I am the one,I sweep away your transgressions(BY)
for my own sake(BZ)
and remember your sins no more.(CA)
26 Remind me. Let’s argue the case together.(CB)
Recount the facts, so that you may be vindicated.
27 Your first father sinned,(CC)
and your mediators have rebelled against me.(CD)
28 So I defiled the officers of the sanctuary,
and set Jacob apart for destruction(CE)
and Israel for scorn.
Footnotes
- 42:1 DSS read his justice
- 42:6 Or you by my righteousness; lit you in righteousness
- 42:10 Lit their
- 42:19 Hb obscure
- 42:20 Alt Hb tradition reads You see many things;
- 42:24 Lit to loot
- 43:12 Lit not a foreigner
- 43:12 Or that
- 43:14 an army supplied for clarity
- 43:14 Or will break down all their bars
- 43:14 Hb obscure
- 43:19 DSS read paths
- 43:23 I.e., with demands for offerings and incense
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