Isaiah 42:1-44:5
Lexham English Bible
The Mission of Yahweh’s Servant
42 Look! here is my servant; I hold him,
my chosen one, in whom my soul delights.
I have put[a] my spirit on him;
he will bring justice forth to the nations.
2 He will not cry out and lift up
and make his voice heard in the street.
3 He will not break a broken reed,
and he not will extinguish a dim wick.
He will bring justice forth in[b] faithfulness.
4 He will not grow faint,
and he will not be broken
until he has established justice in the earth.
And the coastlands wait for his teaching.
5 Thus says the God, Yahweh,
who created the heavens
and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and its offspring,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it.
6 “I am Yahweh; I have called you in righteousness,
and I have grasped your hand and watched over you;
and I have given you as a covenant of the people,
as a light of the nations,
7 to open the blind eyes,
to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon,
those who sit in darkness from the house of imprisonment.
8 I am Yahweh; that is my name,
and I do not give my glory to another,
nor[c] my praise to the idols.
9 Look! the former things have come,
and I declare new things.
I announce[d] them to you before they sprout up.”
A Song of Praise to Yahweh
10 Sing a new song to Yahweh;
praise him from the end of the earth,
you[e] who go down to the sea and that which fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout loudly from the top[f] of the mountains.
12 Let them give[g] glory to Yahweh
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 Yahweh goes forth like a mighty warrior;
he stirs up zeal like a man of war.
He raises the war cry, indeed he raises the battle shout;
he prevails against his foes.
14 I have been silent for a long time;
I have kept silent;
I have restrained myself like one giving birth;
I will moan, pant, and gasp together.
15 I will cause mountains and hills to dry up,
and I will cause all their herbage to wither;
and I will make rivers like islands,
and I will cause pools to dry up.
16 And I will lead the blind by a road they do not know;
I will cause them to tread on paths they have not known.
I will make darkness in their presence[h] into light
and rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
17 They shall turn back;
they shall be greatly ashamed,[i]
those who trust in an image,
who say to a cast image, “You are our gods.”
Blind and Deaf Israel
18 Deaf people, listen!
And blind people, look to see!
19 Who is blind but my servant
or[j] deaf like my messenger whom I sent?
Who is blind like the one who is repaid
or[k] blind like the servant of Yahweh?
20 You see many things, but[l] you do not observe.
His ears are open, but[m] he does not hear.
21 Yahweh was willing for the sake of his righteousness;
he showed his teaching to be great and proved it to be glorious.
22 But[n] this is a people plundered and looted; all of them are trapped in holes,
and they are kept hidden in houses of imprisonment.
They have become like plunder, and there is no one who saves;
like booty, and there is no one who says, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will heed this,
will listen attentively and listen, for the time to come?[o]
24 Who gave Jacob to a plunderer[p]
and Israel to those who plunder?
Was it not Yahweh, against whom[q] we have sinned?
And they were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not obey[r] his law.
25 So[s] he poured the wrath of his anger upon him
and the strength of war.
And it set him afire all around, but[t] he did not understand;[u]
and it burned him, but[v] he did not take it to heart.
The Restorer of Israel
43 But now thus says Yahweh,
he who created you, Jacob,
and he who formed you, Israel:
“You must not fear, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name; you are mine.[w]
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you,
and through the rivers, they shall not flow over you.
When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not scorch[x] you.
3 For I am Yahweh, your God,
the holy one of Israel, your savior.
I give you Egypt as ransom,
Cush and Seba in place of you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
you are honored, and I myself love you,
and I give people in place of you,
and nations in place of your life.
5 You must not fear,
for I am with you.
I will bring your offspring[y] from the east,
and I will gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give!’
and to the south, ‘You must not withhold!’
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 formed,
indeed whom I made.”
8 Bring out the people blind yet[z] with eyes,
and deaf, though[aa] they have ears.
9 Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them has declared this,
and declared[ab] the former things to us?
Let them bring[ac] their witnesses, that[ad] they may be in the right,
and let them hear and say, “It is true!”
10 “You are my witnesses,” declares[ae] Yahweh,
“and my servant whom I have chosen
so that you may know and believe in[af] me
and understand that I am he.
No god was formed before me[ag],
and none shall be after me.
11 I myself am Yahweh,
and there is no savior besides me!
12 I myself declared and saved,
and I proclaimed.[ah] And there was no strange god[ai] among you.
And you are my witnesses,” declares[aj] Yahweh,
“and I am God.
13 Indeed, from this day I am the one,
and no one can deliver from my hand.
I perform,[ak] and who can cancel it?”[al]
Yahweh Rescues His People
14 Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer,
the holy one of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
and I will cause all of them to fall down as fugitives,
and the Chaldeans,[am] their rejoicing on the ships.
15 I am Yahweh, your holy one,
the creator of Israel, your king.”
16 Thus says Yahweh, who makes[an] a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings out chariot and horse,
army and mighty one.
Together they lie down;
they cannot rise.
They are extinguished,
quenched like a wick.
18 “You must not remember the former things,
and you not must consider the former things.
19 Look! I am about to do a new thing! Now it sprouts!
Do you not perceive[ao] it?
Indeed, I will make[ap] a way in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert.
20 The animals of the field will honor me,
jackals and daughters of the ostrich,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give a drink to my chosen people,
21 this people whom I formed for myself,
so they might make known[aq] my praise.
22 But[ar] you did not call me, Jacob;
for you have become weary of me, Israel.
23 You have not brought me your sheep for a burnt offering
nor[as] honored me with your sacrifice.
I have not made you serve with offerings,[at]
nor have I made you weary with frankincense.
24 You have not bought me spice reed with money
or[au] satisfied me with the fat of sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins;
you have made me weary with your iniquities.
25 I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
26 Take me to court; let us enter into judgment together.
You, make an account[av] so that you may be in the right.
27 Your first ancestor[aw] sinned,
and your representatives[ax] transgressed against me.
28 And I profaned the princes of the sanctuary,
and I gave Jacob to destruction, and Israel to reviling.
Yahweh Blesses Chosen Israel
44 “But now hear, Jacob my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 Thus says Yahweh, who made you,
and who formed you in[ay] the womb and will help you:
you must not fear, my servant Jacob,
and Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour out water on a thirsty land
and streams on dry ground.
I will pour my spirit out on your descendants[az]
and my blessing on your offspring.
4 And they shall sprout among[ba] the grass
like willows by a watercourse of water.
5 This one will say, ‘I belong to Yahweh!’
And that one will be called by the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand ‘Yahweh’s’
and take the name[bb] of Israel.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 42:1 Literally “given”
- Isaiah 42:3 Or “to”
- Isaiah 42:8 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:9 Literally “cause to hear”
- Isaiah 42:10 Or “those”
- Isaiah 42:11 Literally “head”
- Isaiah 42:12 Or “establish”
- Isaiah 42:16 Literally “before their face”
- Isaiah 42:17 Literally “ashamed with shame”
- Isaiah 42:19 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:19 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:20 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:20 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:22 Or “And”
- Isaiah 42:23 Literally “later”
- Isaiah 42:24 The reading tradition (Qere) has “as plunder”
- Isaiah 42:24 Or “this”
- Isaiah 42:24 Literally “hear”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “and”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “did not know”
- Isaiah 42:25 Or “and”
- Isaiah 43:1 Literally “to me you”
- Isaiah 43:2 Or “burn”
- Isaiah 43:5 Literally “seed”
- Isaiah 43:8 Or “and”
- Isaiah 43:8 Or “and”
- Isaiah 43:9 Literally “caused to hear”
- Isaiah 43:9 Or “give”
- Isaiah 43:9 Or “and”
- Isaiah 43:10 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 43:10 Literally “to”
- Isaiah 43:10 Literally “my face”
- Isaiah 43:12 Literally “caused to hear”
- Isaiah 43:12 Literally “stranger”
- Isaiah 43:12 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 43:13 Or “make”
- Isaiah 43:13 Literally “bring it back”
- Isaiah 43:14 Literally “Chaldea”
- Isaiah 43:16 Literally “gives”
- Isaiah 43:19 Or “know”
- Isaiah 43:19 Literally “put”
- Isaiah 43:21 Literally “count out”
- Isaiah 43:22 Or “And”
- Isaiah 43:23 Or “and”
- Isaiah 43:23 Hebrew “offering”
- Isaiah 43:24 Or “and”
- Isaiah 43:26 Literally “count up”
- Isaiah 43:27 Or “father”
- Isaiah 43:27 Literally “scoffers” or “spokesmen”
- Isaiah 44:2 Or “from”
- Isaiah 44:3 Hebrew “descendant”
- Isaiah 44:4 Literally “in between”
- Isaiah 44:5 Literally “he will be titled by the name”
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software