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Isaiah 42 (Listen)

• Isaiah 41
• Isaiah 42
• Isaiah 43

The Lord's Chosen Servant

42 eBehold fmy servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, gin whom my soul delights;

hI have put my Spirit upon him;

ihe will bring forth justice to the nations.

2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3 ja bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

khe will faithfully bring forth justice.

4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged1

till he has established justice in the earth;

and lthe coastlands wait for his law.

5 Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens mand stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

nwho gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

6 “I am the Lord; oI have called you2 in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you pas a covenant for the people,

qa light for the nations,

7 rto open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

sfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.

8 I am the Lord; that is my name;

tmy glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,

uand new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a New Song

10 vSing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth,

wyou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

lthe coastlands and their inhabitants.

11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that xKedar inhabits;

let the habitants of ySela sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in lthe coastlands.

13 zThe Lord goes out like a mighty man,

like a man of war ahe stirs up his zeal;

he cries out, bhe shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.

14 For a long time I have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out clike a woman in labor;

I will gasp and pant.

15 dI will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,3

and dry up the pools.

16 eAnd I will lead the blind

in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

fthe rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them.

17 gThey are turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

“You are our gods.”

Israel's Failure to Hear and See

18 Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind, that you may see!

19 Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,4

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

20 hHe sees many things, but does not observe them;

ihis ears are open, but he does not hear.

21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,

to magnify his law and make it glorious.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted;

they are all of them trapped in holes

jand hidden in prisons;

they have become plunder with none to rescue,

spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

23 Who among you will give ear to this,

will attend and listen for the time to come?

24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

in whose ways they would not walk,

and whose law they would not obey?

25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger

and the might of battle;

it set him on fire all around, kbut he did not understand;

it burned him up, lbut he did not take it to heart.

• Isaiah 41
• Isaiah 42
• Isaiah 43

Isaiah 49 (Listen)

• Isaiah 48
• Isaiah 49
• Isaiah 50

The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen to me, kO coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples lfrom afar.

mThe Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

2 nHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;

oin the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.

3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, pin whom I will be glorified.”1

4 qBut I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the Lord,

and my recompense with my God.”

5 rAnd now the Lord says,

he mwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for sI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—

6 he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

tI will make you uas a light for the nations,

that vmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7 Thus says the Lord,

wthe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

xto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

y“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

The Restoration of Israel

8 Thus says the Lord:

z“In a atime of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you band give you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

cto apportion the desolate heritages,

9 dsaying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

eThey shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

10 fthey shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them gwill lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

11 hAnd I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

12 iBehold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, jthese from the north and from the west,2

and these from the land of Syene.”3

13 kSing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord lhas comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

14 But Zion said, m“The Lord has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”

15 n“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

16 Behold, oI have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

17 Your builders make haste;4

pyour destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.

18 qLift up your eyes around and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

rAs I live, declares the Lord,

syou shall put them all on as an ornament;

you shall bind them on as a bride does.

19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places

and your devastated land—

tsurely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20 uThe children of your bereavement

will yet say in your ears:

t‘The place is too narrow for me;

make room for me to dwell in.’

21 Then you will say in your heart:

‘Who has borne me these?

uI was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away,

but who has brought up these?

Behold, I was left alone;

from where have these come?’”

22 Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

vand raise my signal to the peoples;

wand they shall bring your sons in their arms,5

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23 xKings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

yWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,

and zlick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

athose who wait for me bshall not be put to shame.”

24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,

or the captives of a tyrant6 be rescued?

25 For thus says the Lord:

c“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,

and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,

for I will contend with those who contend with you,

and I will save your children.

26 dI will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk ewith their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know

that fI am the Lord your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

• Isaiah 48
• Isaiah 49
• Isaiah 50

Isaiah 52:13-15 (Listen)

• Isaiah 51
• Isaiah 52
• Isaiah 53

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions

13 Behold, bmy servant shall act wisely;1

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14 As many were astonished at you—

chis appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15 so dshall he sprinkle2 many nations;

ekings shall shut their mouths because of him;

ffor that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.