CHAPTER 42
Here is
My Servant,
whom I uphold,
My Chosen One,
in whom My soul
delights.
I will put
My Spirit
on Him,
and He will bring
justice
to the nations.
A bruised
reed
He will not
break
and a smoldering
wick
He will not
extinguish;
He will faithfully
bring forth
justice.
He will not
grow weak
or discouraged
until
He has established
justice
on the earth.
In His law
the islands
will put their hope.”
Thus
says
God
the LORD—
He who created
the heavens
and stretched them out,
who spread out
the earth
and its offspring,
who gives
breath
to the people
on it
and life
to those who walk
in it—
“I,
the LORD,
have called you
for a righteous purpose,
and I will take hold
of your hand.
I will keep you
and appoint you
to be a covenant
for the people
and a light
to the nations,
to open
the eyes
of the blind,
to bring
prisoners
out of the dungeon,
and those sitting
in darkness
out from the prison
house.
Behold,
the former things
have happened,
and now I
declare
new things.
Before
they spring forth
I proclaim
them
to you.”
Sing
to the LORD
a new
song,
His praise
from the ends
of the earth,
you who go down
to the sea,
and all that is in it,
you islands,
and all who dwell there.
Let the desert
and its cities
raise their voices;
let the villages
of Kedar cry aloud.
Let the people
of Sela
sing for joy;
let them cry out
from the mountaintops.
The LORD
will go forth
like a warrior;
He will stir up
His zeal
like a soldier.
He will shout;
yes,
He will roar.
He will prevail
against
His enemies.
I have kept silent
from ages past;
I have kept quiet
and restrained.
But now I will groan
like a woman in labor;
I will at once
gasp
and pant.
I will lay waste
the mountains
and hills
and dry up
all
their vegetation.
I will turn
the rivers
into islands
and dry up
the marshes.
I will lead
the blind
by a way
they did not
know;
I will guide them
on unfamiliar
paths.
I will turn
darkness
into light
before them
and rough places
into level ground.
These
things
I will do for them,
and I will not
forsake them.
But those who trust
in idols
and say
to molten images:
‘You
are our gods!’
will be turned
back
in utter
shame.
Who
is blind
but
My servant,
or deaf
like the messenger
I am sending?
Who
is blind
like My covenant partner,
or blind
like the servant
of the LORD?
But this
is a people
plundered
and looted,
all
trapped
in caves
or imprisoned
in dungeons.
They have become
plunder
with no
one to rescue them,
and loot
with no
one to say,
“Send them back!”
Who
gave
Jacob
up for spoil,
and Israel
to the plunderers?
Was it not
the LORD,
against whom
we have sinned?
They were unwilling
to walk
in His ways,
and they would not
obey
His law.
So He poured out
on them
His furious
anger
and the fierceness
of battle.
It enveloped them
in flames,
but they did not
understand;
it consumed them,
but they did not
take
it to
heart.