Isaiah 42
42
The Lord’s Special Servant
1“Here is my servant, the one I support.
He is the one I chose, and I am pleased with him.
I will put my Spirit in him.
And he will bring justice to all nations.
2He will not cry out or yell.
He will not speak loudly in the streets.
3He will not break a crushed blade of grass.
He will not put out even a weak flame.
He will bring justice and find what is true.
4He will not lose hope or give up
until he brings justice to the world.
And people far away will trust his teachings.”
5God, the Lord, said these things.
He created the skies and stretched them out.
He spread out the earth and everything on it.
He gives life to all people on earth.
He gives life to everyone who walks on the earth.
6The Lord says, “I called you to do right.
And I will hold your hand.
I will protect you.
You will be the sign of my agreement with the people.
You will be a light to shine for all people.
7You will help the blind to see.
You will free those who are in prison.
You will lead those who live in darkness out of their prison.
8“I am the Lord. That is my name.
I will not give my glory to another.
I will not let idols take the praise that should be mine.
9The things I said would happen have happened.
And now I tell you about new things.
Before those things happen,
I tell you about them.”
A Song of Praise to the Lord
10Sing a new song to the Lord.
Sing his praise everywhere on the earth.
Praise him, you people who sail on the seas and you animals who live in them.
Praise him, you people living in faraway places.
11The deserts and their cities should praise him.
The settlements of Kedar should praise him.
The people living in Sela should sing for joy.
They should sing from the mountaintops.
12They should give glory to the Lord.
People in faraway lands should praise him.
13The Lord will march out like a strong soldier.
He will be excited like a man ready to fight a war.
He will shout out the battle cry.
And he will defeat his enemies.
14The Lord says, “For a long time I have said nothing.
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now I will cry out.
I will strain like a woman giving birth to a child.
15I will destroy the hills and mountains.
I will dry up all the plants that grow there.
I will make the rivers become dry land.
I will dry up the pools of water.
16Then I will lead the blind along a way they never knew.
I will guide them along paths they have not known.
I will make the darkness become light for them.
And I will make the rough ground smooth.
These are the things I will do.
I will not leave my people.
17But some people trust in idols.
They say to their statues,
‘You are our gods.’
Those people will be rejected in disgrace.
Israel Refused to Listen to God
18“You who are deaf, hear me.
You who are blind, look and see.
19No one is more blind than my servant Israel.
The messenger I send is the most deaf.
No one is more blind than the person I own.
No one is more blind than the servant of the Lord.
20Israel, you have seen much, but you have not obeyed.
You have heard, but you refuse to listen.”
21The Lord made his teachings wonderful.
He did this because he is good.
22These people have been defeated and robbed.
They are trapped in pits.
They are locked up in prison.
Like robbers, enemies have taken them away.
There is no one to save them.
Enemies carried them off.
And no one said, “Bring them back.”
23Will any of you listen to this?
Will you listen carefully in the future?
24Who let the people of Jacob be carried off?
Who let robbers take Israel away?
The Lord allowed this to happen
because we sinned against him.
We did not live the way the Lord wanted us to live.
We did not obey his teaching.
25So the Lord became very angry with us.
He brought terrible wars against us.
It was as if the people of Israel had fire all around them.
But they didn’t know what was happening.
It was as if they were burning.
But they didn’t pay any attention.
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Isaiah 42: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Isaiah 42
42
God’s Promise concerning His Servant
1“Behold, My #This is the first of the famous prophecies concerning the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah (Is 42:1-7; 49:1-9a; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12).Servant, whom I #Or hold fast.uphold;
My Chosen One in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
2He will not call out or shout aloud,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3A broken reed He will not break [off]
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish [He will not harm those who are weak and suffering];
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
4He will not be disheartened or crushed [in spirit];
[He will persevere] until He has established justice on the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
5This is what God the Lord says,
He who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and its produce,
Who gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk on it,
6“I am the Lord, I have called You (the Messiah) in righteousness [for a righteous purpose],
I will also take You by the hand and keep watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people [Israel],
As a light to the nations (Gentiles),
7To open the eyes of the blind,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who sit in darkness from the prison.
8I am the Lord, that is My Name;
My glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved idols.
9Indeed, the former things have come to pass,
Now I declare new things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”
10Sing to the Lord a new song,
Sing His praise from the end of the earth!
You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
You islands and coastlands, and those who inhabit them [sing His praise]!
11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The villages where Kedar lives.
Let the inhabitants of #Gr Petra (rock). Sela was probably the Edomite capital at this time. Carved into great walls of rose-colored rock it was later controlled by the Nabateans.Sela shout for joy,
Let them shout joyfully from the tops of the mountains.
12Let them give glory to the Lord
And declare His praise in the islands and coastlands.
13The Lord will go forth like a warrior,
He will stir up His zeal like a man of war;
He will shout out, yes, He will raise a war cry.
He will prevail [mightily] against His enemies.
The Blindness of the People
14“I [the Lord] have been silent for a long time,
I have been still and restrained Myself.
Now I will moan like a woman in labor,
I will both gasp and pant.
15I will lay waste the mountains and hills
And wither all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.
16I will lead the blind by a way they do not know;
I will guide them in paths that they do not know.
I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains.
These things I will do [for them],
And I will not leave them abandoned or undone.”
17Those who trust in carved idols will be turned back,
And utterly put to shame,
Who say to cast images,
“You are our gods.”
18Hear, you deaf!
And look, you blind, that you may see.
19Who is blind but My servant [Israel],
Or deaf like My messenger whom I send?
Who is blind like the one who is at peace with Me [in a covenant relationship],
Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?
20You have seen many things, but you do not observe them;
Your ears are open, but no one hears.
21The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake
To make the law great and prove to be glorious.
22But this is a people despoiled and plundered;
All of them are trapped in holes,
Or are hidden away in prisons.
They have become a prey with no one to rescue them,
And a spoil, with no one to say, “Give them back!”
23Who among you will listen to this?
Who will listen and pay attention in the time to come?
24Who gave up Jacob [the kingdom of Judah] for spoil, and [the kingdom of] Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, He against whom we [of Judah] have sinned,
And in whose ways they [of Israel] were unwilling to walk,
And whose law and teaching they did not obey?
25Therefore He poured out on Israel the heat of His anger
And the fierceness of battle;
And engulfed him in fire,
Yet he did not recognize [the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach];
It burned him, but he did not take it to heart.
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