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ISAIAH INSTITUTE TRANSLATION

  Isaiah

42

Isaiah 42

Jehovah’s appointing his servant as a light to the nations leads to a new exodus or to captivity.

1 My servant whom I sustain,my chosen one in whom I delight,him I have endowed with my Spirit;he will dispense justice to the nations.a 2 He will not shout or raise his voiceto make himself heard in public. 3 Even a bruised reed he will not break;a dim wick he will not snuff out.He will perform the work of justicein the cause of truth. 4 Neither shall he himself grow dim or be bruiseduntil he has brought about justice in the earth.The isles await his law.
5 Thus says Jehovah, God,who frames and suspends the heavens,who gives form to the earth and its creatures,the breath of life to the people upon it,spirit to those who walk on it: 6 I Jehovah have rightfully called youand will grasp you by the hand;I have created you and appointed youto be a covenant for the people,a light to the nations,b 7 to open eyes that are blind,to free captives from confinementand from prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am Jehovah; that is my name.I will not relinquish my glory to another,nor my praise to wrought idols. 9 The prophecies of the former eventsindeed came to pass,but new things I yet foretell.Before they spring up I declare them to you.
10 Sing to Jehovah a new song;sing his praise from the end of the earth.cLet the sea roar,c and all that lives in it,the isles and they who inhabit them. 11 Let the desert and its cities raise their voice,and the villages where Kedar dwells;let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joyand cry out from the tops of the mountains. 12 O let them give glory to Jehovah,and in the isles speak out in praise of him.
13 Jehovah will come forth like a warrior,his passions aroused like a fighter;he will give the war cry,raise the shout of victory over his enemies. 14 For a long time I have been silent,keeping still and restraining myself.But now I will scream like a woman in laborand breathe hard and fast all at once. 15 I will lay waste mountains and hillsand make all their vegetation wither;I will turn rivers into dry land and evaporate lakes.
16 Then will I lead the blind by a way they did not know,and guide them in paths unfamiliar;the darkness confronting them I will turn into light,and the uneven ground make level.These things I will not fail to perform.
17 But those who trust in idolsand esteem their images as godsshall retreat in utter confusion. 18 O you deaf, listen; O you blind, look and see! 19 Who is blind but my own servant,or so deaf as the messenger I have sent?Who is blind like those I have commissioned,as uncomprehending as the servant of Jehovah— 20 seeing much but not giving heed,with open ears hearing nothing?
21 It is the will of Jehovah that,because of his righteousness,they magnify the law and become illustrious. 22 Instead, they are a people plundered and sacked,all of them trapped in holes,hidden away in dungeons.They have become a prey, yet no one rescues them,a spoil, yet none demands restitution.
23 Who among you hearing thiswill take heed of it hereafter,and be mindful and obey? 24 Who is it that hands Jacob over to plunderand Israel to despoilers, if not Jehovah,against whom we have sinned?For they have no desire to walk in his waysor obey his law. 25 So in the heat of his angerhe pours out on them the violence of war,till it envelopes them in flames—yet they remain unaware—till it sets them on fire;yet they take it not to heart.

  • a1 Hebrew gôyîm, also Gentiles.
  • b6 Hebrew gôyîm, also Gentiles.
  • c10 Hebrew yôrdê hayyām, they who go down to the sea, emended to yirᶜam hayyām.


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