Isaiah 42

1 Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen one, in him I take delight. I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring justice to the nations.

Jacob is my servant, I will help him: Israel is my chosen, my soul has accepted him; I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

2 He will not cry out nor shout, nor make his voice heard in the streets.

He shall not cry, nor lift up [his voice], nor shall his voice be heard without.

3 A crushed reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench: he will faithfully execute justice.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench; but he shall bring forth judgment to truth.

4 He will not grow faint nor be discouraged until he has established justice on the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

He shall shine out, and shall not be discouraged, until he have set judgment on the earth: and in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

5 This is what God Yahweh says— the one who created the heavens and stretched them out, the one who made the earth and all that it produces, the one who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who live on it:

Thus saith the Lord God, who made the heaven, and established it; who settled the earth, and the things in it, and gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that tread on it:

6 “I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and set you as a covenant for the people, as a light for the Gentiles,

I the Lord God have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will strengthen thee: and I have given thee for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles:

7 to open the eyes of the blind, to release the prisoners from the dungeon, and from the house of confinement those who sit in darkness.

to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound and them that sit in darkness out of bonds and the prison-house.

8 I am Yahweh, that is my name; and my glory I will not share with another nor my praise with carved idols.

I am the Lord God: that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praises to graven images.

9 See, the previous things came to pass, now I am about to declare new events. Before they begin to occur I will tell you about them.”

Behold, the ancient things have come to pass, and [so will] the new things which I tell you: yea, before I tell [them] they are made known to you.

10 Sing to Yahweh a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth; you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, the coastlands, and those who live there.

Sing a new hymn to the Lord: ye [who are] his dominion, glorify his name from the end of the earth: ye that go down to the sea, and sail upon it; the islands, and they that dwell in them.

11 Let the desert and the cities cry out, the villages where Kedar lives, shout for joy! Let the inhabitants of Sela sing; let them shout from the mountaintops.

Rejoice, thou wilderness, and the villages thereof, the hamlets, and the dwellers in Kedar: the inhabitants of the rock shall rejoice, they shall shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give glory to Yahweh and declare his praise in the coastlands.

They shall give glory to God, [and] shall proclaim his praises in the islands.

13 Yahweh will go out as a warrior; as a man of war he will stir up his zeal. He will shout, yes, he will roar his battle cries; he will show his enemies his power.

The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and crush the war: he shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout mightily against his enemies.

14 I have kept quiet for a long time; I have been still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.

I have been silent: shall I also always be silent and forbear: I have endured like a travailing [woman]: I will [now] amaze and wither at once.

15 I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; and I will turn the rivers into islands and will dry up the marshes.

I will make desolate mountains and hills, and will dry up all their grass; and I will make the rivers islands, and dry up the pools.

16 I will bring the blind by a way that they do not know; in paths that they do not know I will lead them. I will turn the darkness into light before them, and make the crooked places straight. These things I will do, and I will not abandon them.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and I will cause them to tread paths which they have not known: I will turn darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things will I do, and will not forsake them.

17 They will be turned back, they will be completely put to shame, those who trust in carved figures, who say to cast metal figures, “You are our gods.”

But they are turned back: be ye utterly ashamed that trust in graven [images], who say to the molten [images], Ye are our gods.

18 Listen, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.

Hear, ye deaf, and look up, ye blind, to see.

19 Who is blind but my servant? Or deaf like my messenger I send? Who is as blind as my covenant partner, or blind as Yahweh's servant?

And who is blind, but my servants? and deaf, but they that rule over them? yea, the servants of God have been made blind.

20 You see many things, but do not comprehend; ears are open, but no one hears.

Ye have often seen, and have not taken heed; [your] ears have been opened, and ye have not heard.

21 It pleased Yahweh to praise his justice and to make his law glorious.

The Lord God has taken counsel that he might be justified, and might magnify [his] praise.

22 But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all trapped in pits, held captive in prisons; they have become a plunder with no one to rescue them, and no one says, “Bring them back!”

And I beheld, and the people were spoiled and plundered: for [there is] a snare in the secret chambers everywhere, and in the houses also, where they have hidden them: they became a spoil, and there was no one that delivered the prey, and there was none who said, Restore.

23 Who among you will listen to this? Who will listen and hear in the future?

Who [is there] among you that will give ear to these things? hearken ye to the things which are coming to pass.

24 Who gave Jacob over to the robber, and Israel to the looters? Was it not Yahweh, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they refused to walk, and whose law they refused to obey?

For what did he give to Jacob up to spoil, and Israel to them that plundered him? Did not God [do it] against whom they sinned? [and] they would not walk in his ways, nor hearken to his law.

25 Therefore he poured out on them his fierce anger and the violence of war, Its flames encircled them, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

So he brought upon them the fury of his wrath; and the war, and those that burnt round about them, prevailed against them; yet no one of them knew [it], neither did they lay [it] to heart.