Isaiah 42
God’s Promise Concerning His Servant
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
5Thus says God the LORD,
Who spread out the earth and its offspring,
Who gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.
Now I declare new things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”
Sing His praise from the end of the earth!
You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it.
You islands, and those who dwell on them.
The settlements where Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.
And declare His praise in the coastlands.
He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.
He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
He will prevail against His enemies.
I have kept still and restrained Myself.
Now like a woman in labor I will groan,
I will both gasp and pant.
And wither all their vegetation;
I will make the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will not leave them undone.”
Who trust in idols,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
And look, you blind, that you may see.
Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?
Your ears are open, but none hears.
To make the law great and glorious.
All of them are trapped in caves,
Or are hidden away in prisons;
They have become a prey with none to deliver them,
And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!”
Who will give heed and listen hereafter?
Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they were not willing to walk,
And whose law they did not obey?
And the fierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not recognize it;
And it burned him, but he paid no attention.