Isaiah 42
42
The LORD's servant
1Here is my servant!#Mt 3.17; 17.5; Mk 1.11; Lk 3.22; 9.35.#Mt 12.18-21.
I have made him strong.
He is my chosen one;
I am pleased with him.
I have given him my Spirit,
and he will bring justice
to the nations.
2He won't shout or yell
or call out in the streets.
3He won't break off a bent reed
or put out a dying flame,
but he will make sure
that justice is done.
4He won't stop or give up
until he brings justice
everywhere on earth,
and people in foreign nations
long for his teaching.
5I am the LORD God.#Ac 17.24,25.
I created the heavens
like an open tent above.
I made the earth and everything
that grows on it.
I am the source of life
for all who live on this earth,
so listen to what I say.
6I chose you to bring justice,#Is 49.6; Lk 2.32; Ac 13.47; 26.23.
and I am here at your side.
I selected and sent you#42.6 I selected…you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
to bring light
and my promise of hope
to the nations.
7You will give sight
to the blind;
you will set prisoners free
from dark dungeons.
8My name is the LORD!
I won't let idols or humans
share my glory and praise.
9Everything has happened
just as I said it would;
now I will announce
what will happen next.
Sing praises to the LORD
10Tell the whole world to sing
a new song to the LORD!
Tell those who sail the ocean
and those who live far away
to join in the praise.
11Tell the tribes of the desert
and everyone in the mountains#42.11 desert…mountains: The Hebrew text includes the place names of Kedar in the desert and Sela in the mountains.
to celebrate and sing.
12Let them announce
his praises everywhere.
13The LORD is marching out
like an angry soldier,
shouting with all his might
while attacking his enemies.
The LORD will help his people
14For a long time, I, the LORD,
have held my temper;
now I will scream and groan
like a woman giving birth.
15I will destroy the mountains
and what grows on them;
I will dry up rivers and ponds.
16I will lead the blind on roads
they have never known;
I will guide them on paths
they have never travelled.
Their road is dark and rough,
but I will give light
to keep them from stumbling.
This is my solemn promise.
17Everyone who worships idols
as though they were gods
will be terribly ashamed.
God's people won't obey
18You people are deaf and blind,
but the LORD commands you
to listen and to see.
19No one is as blind or deaf
as his messenger,
his chosen servant,
20who sees and hears so much,
but pays no attention.
21The LORD always does right,
and so he wanted his Law
to be greatly praised.#42.21 greatly praised: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 21.
22But his people were trapped
and imprisoned in holes
with no one to rescue them.
All they owned had been taken,
and no one was willing
to give it back.
23Why won't his people
ever learn to listen?
24Israel sinned and refused
to obey the LORD
or follow his instructions.
So the LORD let them be robbed
of everything they owned.
25He was furious with them
and punished their nation
with the fires of war.
Still they paid no attention.
They didn't even care
when they were surrounded
and scorched by flames.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Isaiah 42
42
The Servant’s Mission
1“This#Mt 12:18–21 is my servant;#Is 49:3–7; 50:10 I strengthen him,
this is my chosen one;#Is 41:8–9; Lk 9:35; 23:35; 1Pt 2:4,6 I delight in him.#Mt 3:17; 17:5; Mk 1:11; Lk 3:22; 2Pt 1:17
I have put my Spirit on him;#Nm 11:16–17; 1Sm 16:13; Ps 33:6; 139:7; Is 11:2; 40:7; 59:21; Lk 4:18–21
he will bring justice#42:1 DSS read his justice to the nations.#Is 2:4; 51:4–5
2He will not cry out or shout
or make his voice heard in the streets.
3He will not break a bruised reed,
and he will not put out a smoldering wick;
he will faithfully bring justice.
4He will not grow weak or be discouraged
until he has established justice on earth.
The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction.”#Is 11:11; 24:15; 42:10,12; 49:1; 51:5; 60:9; 66:19
5This is what God, the Lord, says —
who created the heavens and stretched them out,#Ps 104:2; Is 40:22
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,#Ps 136:6; Is 34:1
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it#Jb 12:10; 33:4; Is 57:16; Dn 5:23; Ac 17:25 —
6“I am the Lord. I have called you
for a righteous purpose,#42:6 Or you by my righteousness; lit you in righteousness#Is 5:7,16; 9:7; 11:4–5; 32:1; 41:2; 45:8,13; 51:5–8; 56:1; 60:21; Jr 23:5–6
and I will hold you by your hand.#Is 41:10,13
I will watch over you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people#Is 49:8
and a light to the nations,#Is 49:6
7in order to open blind eyes,#Ac 26:17–18
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,#Is 35:5; 49:9; 61:1; Heb 2:14–15
and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
8I am the Lord. That is my name,
and I will not give my glory to another#Ex 20:3–5; Is 48:11
or my praise to idols.
9The past events have indeed happened.
Now I declare new events;#Is 43:19; 48:3,6; Rv 21:4
I announce them to you before they occur.”
A Song of Praise
10Sing a new song to the Lord;#Ps 33:3; 96:1; 98:1; 144:9
sing his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,#Ps 96:11; 98:7
you coasts and islands with your#42:10 Lit their inhabitants.
11Let the desert and its cities shout,
the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.#Is 21:16; 60:7
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;#Is 16:1
let them cry out from the mountaintops.
12Let them give glory to the Lord
and declare his praise in the coasts and islands.
13The Lord advances like a warrior;
he stirs up his zeal like a soldier.#Is 9:7; 26:11; 37:32; 59:17
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.#Ps 50:21; Is 57:11; 62:1; 64:12; 65:6
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,#Is 13:8
gasping breathlessly.
15I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up marshes.#Is 44:27; 50:2; Nah 1:4–6
16I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;#Is 29:18; 30:21; 32:3; Jr 31:8–9; Lk 1:78–79
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them#Eph 5:8
and rough places into level ground.#Is 40:4; Lk 3:5
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not abandon them.#Jos 1:5; Ps 94:14; Is 41:17; Heb 13:5
17They will be turned back and utterly ashamed —
those who trust in an idol
and say to a cast image,
‘You are our gods! ’ #Ps 97:7; Is 1:29; 44:9,11; 45:16
Israel’s Blindness and Deafness
18“Listen, you deaf!
Look, you blind, so that you may see.#Is 35:5
19Who is blind but my servant,#Is 41:8–9; 43:10; 44:1–2,21; 45:4; 48:20; 49:3; 54:17; Ezk 28:25; 37:25; Lk 1:54
or deaf like my messenger I am sending?
Who is blind like my dedicated one,#42:19 Hb obscure
or blind like the servant of the Lord?
20Though seeing many things,#42:20 Alt Hb tradition reads You see many things; you pay no attention.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”#Rm 2:21–23
21Because of his righteousness, the Lord was pleased
to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder#Dt 1:39; Jr 2:14; Ezk 34:8; 36:4
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”
23Who among you will hear this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.
24Who gave Jacob to the robber,#42:24 Lit to loot
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.
25So 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.#Is 29:13; 47:7; 57:1; Jr 12:11; Hs 7:9
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