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OEB ISA Chapter 42

◄ ISA 42 ► ║ ©

42 Behold!

My servant, whom I uphold;

my chosen, the joy of my soul.

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will publish (my) Law to the nations.

2 He will not cry, nor shout,

nor utter his voice in the streets;

3 not a reed that is bent will he break,

nor a wick that burns dim will he quench.

He will faithfully set forth (my) Law,

4 all erect and aglow he will be:

he will yet set (my) Law in the earth,

and the islands will wait for his teaching.

5 Thus says the Lord, the God

who spread out and stretched forth the heavens;

who created the earth and its fruits,

giving breath to the people upon it,

and spirit to them who tread it:

6 with full and deliberate purpose

have I the Lord called you,

and taken your hand in mine;

I formed you as pledge and symbol

of my covenant with mankind –

a light to enlighten the nations,

7 to open the eyes of the blind,

and to bring from the dungeon the captives

who sit in the darkness of prison.

8 I am the (true) God, the Lord;

this is the name that is mine:

and my glory I yield to no other,

my praise will no image enjoy.

9 Behold, the predictions of old are fulfilled,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring into being,

I make them know unto you.

The new song

10 Sing a new song to the Lord,

his praise form the end of the earth;

let the sea and its fullness roar,

the islands and those who dwell there.

11 Let the desert rejoice with her cities,

the villages Kedar inhabits;

let Sela’s inhabitants sing,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give to the Lord glory,

and tell forth his praise in the islands.

13 The Lord goes forth like a hero,

he stirs his rage like a warrior;

he shouts his fierce battle-cry,

he engages his foes like a hero.

The Lord at last bestirs himself

14 Long time have I held my peace,

and restrained myself in silence;

but now, like a woman in travail,

I groan, I pant and gasp.

15 Mountains and hills I will waste,

I will dry up all their herbage;

the streams I will turn into sand,

and the pools I will clean dry up.

16 The blind I will lead and guide,

by ways and by paths unfamiliar;

their gloom I will turn into light,

and the ground that is rough I will level

these are the things I will do,

they will not be left undone.

17 But those who put trust in an idol,

and call an image their god,

will backward be driven in shame.

A call for repentance on Israel’s part

18 Hearken, you who are deaf;

and you blind, look up, that you see;

19 who is blind but my servant,

and who is deaf as my messenger?

Who is blind as my envoy,

and the deaf as the Lord’s servant?

20 Much have you seen that you marked not;

your ears, though open, were dead.

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

to make his instruction great and glorious.

22 Yet it is still a people

plundered and despoiled,

all of them snared in dungeons,

and hidden away in prisons –

a prey without prospect of rescue,

a spoil of which none says ‘Restore.’

23 Which of you now will listen to this,

will attend and hear for the time to come?

24 Who gave up Jacob to plunderers,

and Israel to them who despoiled him,

25 and poured his hot anger upon him,

in fury of war so intense

that it blazed round about him – he knew not why –

and it burned him, yet never heart did he lay it?

The Lord will show his love for Israel by gathering her exiles home