Isaiah 42

1 Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul delighteth in him: I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

See my servant, whom I am supporting, my loved one, in whom I take delight: I have put my spirit on him; he will give the knowledge of the true God to the nations.

2 He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his voice be heard abroad.

He will make no cry, his voice will not be loud: his words will not come to men's ears in the streets.

3 The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

He will not let a crushed stem be quite broken, and he will not let a feebly burning light be put out: he will go on sending out the true word to the peoples.

4 He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the earth: and the islands shall wait for his law.

His light will not be put out, and he will not be crushed, till he has given the knowledge of the true God to the earth, and the sea-lands will be waiting for his teaching.

5 Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens, and stretched them out: that established the earth, and the things that spring out of it: that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that tread thereon.

God the Lord, even he who made the heavens, measuring them out on high; stretching out the earth, and giving its produce; he who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who go about on it, says:

6 I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles:

I the Lord have made you the vessel of my purpose, I have taken you by the hand, and kept you safe, and I have given you to be an agreement to the people, and a light to the nations:

7 That thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the prisoner out of prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

To give eyes to the blind, to make free the prisoners from the prison, to let out those who are shut up in the dark.

8 I the Lord, this is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven things.

I am the Lord; that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to pictured images.

9 The things that were first, behold they are come: and new things do I declare: before they spring forth, I will make you head them.

See, the things said before have come about, and now I give word of new things: before they come I give you news of them.

10 Sing ye to the Lora a new song, his praise is from the ends of the earth: you that go down to the sea, and all that are therein: ye islands, and ye inhabitants of them.

Make a new song to the Lord, and let his praise be sounded from the end of the earth; you who go down to the sea, and everything in it, the sea-lands and their people.

11 Let the desert and the cities thereof be exalted: Cedar shall dwell in houses: ye inhabitants of Petra, give praise, they shall cry from the top of the mountains.

Let the waste land and its flocks be glad, the tent-circles of Kedar; let the people of the rock give a glad cry, from the top of the mountains let them make a sound of joy.

12 They shall give glory to the Lord, and shall declare his praise in the islands.

Let them give glory to the Lord, sounding his praise in the sea-lands.

13 The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war shall he stir up zeal: he shall shout and cry: he shall prevail against his enemies.

The Lord will go out as a man of war, he will be moved to wrath like a fighting-man: his voice will be strong, he will give a loud cry; he will go against his attackers like a man of war.

14 I have always held my peace, I have I kept silence, I have been patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and swallow up at once.

I have long been quiet, I have kept myself in and done nothing: now I will make sounds of pain like a woman in childbirth, breathing hard and quickly.

15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and will make all their grass to wither: and I will turn rivers into islands, and will dry up the standing pools.

I will make waste mountains and hills, drying up all their plants; and I will make rivers dry, and pools dry land.

16 And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them.

And I will take the blind by a way of which they had no knowledge, guiding them by roads strange to them: I will make the dark places light before them, and the rough places level. These things will I do and will not give them up.

17 They are turned back: let them be greatly confounded, that trust in a graven thing, that say to a molten thing: You are our god.

They will be turned back and be greatly shamed who put their hope in pictured images, who say to metal images, You are our gods.

18 Hear, ye deaf, and, ye blind, behold that you may see.

Give ear, you whose ears are shut; and let your eyes be open, you blind, so that you may see.

19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he that is sold? or who is blind, but the servant of the Lord?

Who is blind, but my servant? who has his ears stopped, but he whom I send? who is blind as my true one, or who has his ears shut like the Lord's servant?

20 Thou that seest many things, wilt thou not observe them? thou that hast ears open, wilt thou not hear?

Seeing much, but keeping nothing in mind; his ears are open, but there is no hearing.

21 And the Lord was willing to sanctify him, and to magnify the law, and exalt it.

It was the Lord's pleasure, because of his righteousness, to make the teaching great and give it honour.

22 But this is a people that is robbed and wasted: they are all the snare of young men, and they are hid in the houses of prisons: they are made a prey, and there is none to deliver them: a spoil, and there is none that saith: Restore.

But this is a people whose property has been taken away from them by force; they are all taken in holes, and shut up in prisons: they are made prisoners, and no one makes them free; they are taken by force and no one says, Give them back.

23 Who is there among you that will give ear to this, that will attend and hearken for times to come?

Who is there among you who will give ear to this? who will give attention to it for the time to come?

24 Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? hath not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, and they have not hearkened to his law.

Who gave up Jacob to those who took away his goods, and Israel to his attackers? Did not the Lord? he against whom they did wrong, and in whose ways they would not go, turning away from his teaching.

25 And he hath poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and a strong battle, and hath burnt him round about, and he knew not: and set him on fire, and he understood not.

For this reason he let loose on him the heat of his wrath, and his strength was like a flame; and it put fire round about him, but he did not see it; he was burned, but did not take it to heart.