14 “For a long time I have kept silent,(A)
    I have been quiet and held myself back.(B)
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
    I cry out, I gasp and pant.(C)
15 I will lay waste(D) the mountains(E) and hills
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
    and dry up(F) the pools.
16 I will lead(G) the blind(H) by ways they have not known,
    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light(I) before them
    and make the rough places smooth.(J)
These are the things I will do;
    I will not forsake(K) them.
17 But those who trust in idols,
    who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’(L)
    will be turned back in utter shame.(M)

Read full chapter

14 I’ve kept still for a very long time.
    I’ve been silent and restrained myself.
Like a woman in labor I will moan;
    I will pant, I will gasp.
15 I will wither mountains and valleys,
    and I will dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into deserts,[a]
    and I will dry up pools.
16 I will make the blind walk a road they don’t know,
    and I will guide them in paths they don’t know.
But I will make darkness before them into light
    and rough places into level ground.
These things I will do;
    I won’t abandon them.

Blindness and deafness

17 Turned backward, utterly shamed
    are those who trust in idols,
    who say to a cast image,
    “You are our god!”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 42:15 Or islands