Old Testament · Isaiah

Isaiah 42

Here Is My Servant

(Matthew 12:15–21)

1Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul^a delights; I have put my spirit^b upon him, he shall bring forth judgment^c to the nations.
2He shall not cry out, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3A bruised reed he shall not break, and a dimly burning wick he shall not quench; he shall bring forth judgment in truth.
4He shall not grow dim nor be crushed, until he has set judgment in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his Torah.
5Thus says the God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath^d to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk in it:
6I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness, and I hold your hand, and I keep you, and I give you for a covenant^e of the people, for a light to the nations;
7to open blind eyes, to bring out the prisoner from the dungeon, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
8I am the LORD, that is my name; and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to graven images.
9Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I make you hear them.

A New Song of Praise

(Psalm 98:1–9; Psalm 149:1–9)

10Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth; you that go down to the sea, and its fullness, the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13The LORD goes forth as a mighty one, as a man^f of war he stirs up zeal; he shall cry, yea, he shall shout aloud, he shall prevail against his enemies.
14I have long held my peace, I have been still and restrained myself; now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will gasp and pant together.
15I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.
16And I will lead the blind in a way they did not know, in paths they did not know I will guide them; I will make darkness into light before them, and crooked places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.
17They shall be turned back, utterly ashamed, those who trust in a graven image, who say to molten images: You are our gods.

Israel Is Deaf and Blind

18Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
19Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he that is at peace, and blind as the servant of the LORD?
20Seeing many things, but you do not observe; opening the ears, but he does not hear.
21The LORD was pleased for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the Torah and make it glorious.
22But this is a people robbed and plundered, all of them snared in holes, and hidden in prison houses; they have become a prey with none to deliver, a spoil with none to say: Restore.
23Who among you will give ear to this, will hearken and hear for the time to come?
24Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither did they obey his Torah.
25So he poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him aflame round about, yet he did not know, and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.