Chapter 42
1 " Behold , my servant , whom I uphold , my chosen, in whom my soul delights : I have put my Spirit on him . He will bring justice to the nations .
2 He will not shout , nor raise his voice , nor cause it to be heard in the street .
3 He won’t break a bruised reed . He won’t quench a dimly burning wick . He will faithfully bring justice .
4 He will not fail nor be discouraged , until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands wait for his law ."
5 God the LORD , he who created the heavens and stretched them out , he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it , he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it , says :
6 " I , the LORD , have called you in righteousness . I will hold your hand . I will keep you , and make you a covenant for the people , as a light for the nations ,
7 to open the blind eyes , to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon , and those who sit in darkness out of the prison .
8 " I am the LORD . That is my name . I will not give my glory to another , nor my praise to engraved images .
9 Behold , the former things have happened and I declare new things . I tell you about them before they come up ."
10 Sing to the LORD a new song , and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea , and all that is therein , the islands and their inhabitants .
11 Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits . Let the inhabitants of Sela sing . Let them shout from the top of the mountains !
12 Let them give glory to the LORD , and declare his praise in the islands.
13 The LORD will go out like a mighty man . He will stir up zeal like a man of war . He will raise a war cry . Yes, he will shout aloud . He will triumph over his enemies.
14 "I have been silent a long time . I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman . I will both gasp and pant .
15 I will destroy mountains and hills , and dry up all their herbs . I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
16 I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know . I will lead them in paths that they don’t know . I will make darkness light before them , and crooked places straight . I will do these things , and I will not forsake them .
17 "Those who trust in engraved images , who tell molten images , ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back . They will be utterly disappointed.
18 " Hear , you deaf , and look , you blind , that you may see .
19 Who is blind , but my servant ? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send ? Who is as blind as he who is at peace , and as blind as the LORD ’s servant ?
20 You see many things , but don’t observe . His ears are open , but he doesn’t listen .
21 It pleased the LORD , for his righteousness ’ sake , to magnify the law and make it honourable.
22 But this is a robbed and plundered people . All of them are snared in holes , and they are hidden in prisons . They have become captives, and no one delivers , and a plunder , and no one says, ‘ Restore them !’
23 Who is there amongst you who will give ear to this ? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t the LORD , he against whom we have sinned ? For they would not walk in his ways , and they disobeyed his law .
25 Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him , and the strength of battle . It set him on fire all around , but he didn’t know . It burnt him , but he didn’t take it to heart ."