Isaiah 42:1-44:5

Common English Bible

God’s servant described

42 But here is my servant, the one I uphold;
    my chosen, who brings me delight.
I’ve put my spirit upon him;
    he will bring justice to the nations.
²He won’t cry out or shout aloud
    or make his voice heard in public.
³He won’t break a bruised reed;
    he won’t extinguish a faint wick,
    but he will surely bring justice.
⁴He won’t be extinguished or broken
    until he has established justice in the land.
The coastlands await his teaching.

⁵God the Lord says—
    the one who created the heavens,
    the one who stretched them out,
    the one who spread out the earth and its offspring,
    the one who gave breath to its people
    and life to those who walk on it—
⁶I, the Lord, have called you for a good reason.
    I will grasp your hand and guard you,
    and give you as a covenant to the people,
    as a light to the nations,
⁷    to open blind eyes, to lead the prisoners from prison,
    and those who sit in darkness from the dungeon.
⁸I am the Lord;
    that is my name;
    I don’t hand out my glory to others
        or my praise to idols.
⁹The things announced in the past—look—they’ve already happened,
    but I’m declaring new things.
    Before they even appear,
    I tell you about them.

Warrior and mother

¹⁰Sing to the Lord a new song!
    Sing his praise from the ends of the earth!
You who sail the sea and all that fills it,
    the coastlands and their residents.
¹¹Let the desert and its towns shout aloud,
    the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the cliff dwellers sing;
    from the top of the mountains let them shout.
¹²Let them give the Lord glory
    and declare God’s praise in the coastlands.
¹³The Lord will go out like a soldier;
    like a warrior God will stir up rage.
God will shout, will roar;
    over enemies he will prevail.
¹⁴I’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.
¹⁵I 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.
¹⁶I 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

¹⁷Turned backward, utterly shamed
    are those who trust in idols,
    who say to a cast image,
    “You are our god!”
¹⁸Hear, deaf ones,
    and blind ones, look and see!
¹⁹Who is blind if not my servant
    and deaf like my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind like the restored one,^[b]
    blind like the servant of the Lord?
²⁰You have seen many things, but don’t keep watch.
    With ears open, you don’t hear.^[c]
²¹The Lord desired for the sake of his righteousness
    to expand and glorify the Instruction.
²²But this is a people plundered and looted,
    everyone trapped in holes and hidden in dungeons.
They have become plunder with no one to rescue,
    loot with no one to say, “Give it back.”

²³Which of you will listen to this,
    will pay attention and respond from now on?
²⁴Who gave Jacob to the looter,
    and Israel to the plunderers?
Wasn’t it the Lord,
    the one we sinned against?
They were not willing to walk in God’s ways,
    and wouldn’t listen to his teaching.
²⁵So God poured out on Jacob the heat of his anger
    and the fury of battle.
It scorched him, and he didn’t know it;
    it burned him, but he didn’t give it much thought.

Don’t fear

43 But now, says the Lord—
the one who created you, Jacob,
    the one who formed you, Israel:
Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name; you are mine.
²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    when through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you won’t be scorched
    and flame won’t burn you.
³I am the Lord your God,
    the holy one of Israel, your savior.
I have given Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in your place.
⁴Because you are precious in my eyes,
    you are honored, and I love you.
    I give people in your place,
        and nations in exchange for your life.
⁵Don’t fear,
    I am with you.
From the east I’ll bring your children;
    from the west I’ll gather you.
⁶I’ll say to the north, “Give them back!”
    and to the south, “Don’t detain them.”
Bring my sons from far away,
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷    everyone who is called by my name
    and whom I created for my glory,
    whom I have formed and made.

⁸Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
    the deaf ones who have ears.
⁹All the nations are gathered together;
    the peoples are assembled.
Which of them announced this?
    Who predicted to us the past events?
Let them bring their witnesses as a defense;
    let them hear and say, “It’s true!”
¹⁰You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
    my servant, whom I chose,
    so that you would know and believe me
    and understand that I am the one.
Before me no god was formed;
    after me there has been no other.
¹¹I, I am the Lord,
    and there is no savior besides me.
¹²I announced, I saved, I proclaimed,
not some stranger among you.
You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
    and I am God.
¹³From the dawn of time, I am the one.
    No one can escape my power.
    I act, and who can undo it?

Don’t remember

¹⁴The Lord your redeemer,
    the holy one of Israel, says,
For your sake, I have sent an army^[d] to Babylon,
    and brought down all the bars,
    turning the Chaldeans’ singing into a lament.^[e]
¹⁵I am the Lord, your holy one,
    Israel’s creator, your king!
¹⁶The Lord says—who makes a way in the sea
    and a path in the mighty waters,
¹⁷    who brings out chariot and horse,
    army and battalion;
    they will lie down together and will not rise;
    they will be extinguished, extinguished like a wick.
¹⁸Don’t remember the prior things;
    don’t ponder ancient history.
¹⁹Look! I’m doing a new thing;
    now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it?
I’m making a way in the desert,
    paths^[f] in the wilderness.
²⁰The beasts of the field,
        the jackals and ostriches, will honor me,
    because I have put water in the desert
    and streams in the wilderness
    to give water to my people,
    my chosen ones,
²¹    this people whom I formed for myself,
        who will recount my praise.

²²But you didn’t call out to me, Jacob;
    you were tired of me, Israel.
²³You didn’t bring me lambs for your entirely burned offering;
    you didn’t honor me with your sacrifices.
I didn’t make you worship with offerings;
    I didn’t weary you with frankincense.
²⁴You didn’t buy spices for me with your money,
    or satisfy me with the fat of your sacrifices.
Instead, you have burdened me with your sins
    and wearied me with your evil actions.
²⁵I, I am the one who wipes out your rebellious behavior for my sake. I won’t remember your sin.
²⁶Summon me, and let’s go to trial together;
    you tell your story so that you may be vindicated!
²⁷Your first ancestor sinned,
    and your officials rebelled against me.
²⁸So I made the holy officials impure,
    handed over Jacob to destruction and Israel to abuse.

You are my witnesses

44 But now hear this, Jacob my servant,
    and Israel, whom I have chosen.
²The Lord your maker,
    who formed you in the womb and will help you, says:
    Don’t fear, my servant Jacob,
    Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
³I will pour out water upon thirsty ground
    and streams upon dry land.
I will pour out my spirit upon your descendants
    and my blessing upon your offspring.
⁴They will spring up from among the reeds
    like willows by flowing streams.
⁵This one will say, “I am the Lord’s,”
        and that one will be named after Jacob.
    Another will write on his hand, “The Lord’s”
        and will take the name Israel.