Isaiah 42–45

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.

2He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.

3He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.

4He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands wait for his law.”

5God Yahweh, 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, Yahweh, 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,

7to 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 Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.

9Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”

10Sing to Yahweh 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.

11Let 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!

12Let them give glory to Yahweh, and declare his praise in the islands.

13Yahweh 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.

15I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.

16I 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.

19Who 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 Yahweh’s servant?

20You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.

21It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it honorable.

22But 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!’

23Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

24Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.

25Therefore 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 burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

1But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.

2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.

3For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

4Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life.

5Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west.

6I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

7everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’”

8Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

9Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified, or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”

10“You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.

11I myself am Yahweh. Besides me, there is no savior.

12I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown, and there was no strange god among you. Therefore you are my witnesses”, says Yahweh, “and I am God.

13Yes, since the day was, I am he. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?”

14Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “For your sake, I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.

15I am Yahweh, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

16Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters,

17who brings out the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched like a wick) says:

18“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old.

19Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

20The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21the people which I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.

22Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel.

23You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings, neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense.

24You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

26Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.

27Your first father sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.

28Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult.”

1Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.

2This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

3For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring;

4and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.

5One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s.’ Another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh,’ and honor the name of Israel.”

6This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

7Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen.

8Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.”

9Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.

10Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?

11Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together.

12The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.

13The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house.

14He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it.

15Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he burns it and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.

16He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.”

17The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

18They don’t know, neither do they consider, for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see, and their hearts, that they can’t understand.

19No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”

20He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”

21Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

23Sing, you heavens, for Yahweh has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees, for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.

24Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;

25who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

26who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’ and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’

27who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers,’

28who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”

1Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their armor, to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:

2“I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron.

3I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who calls you by your name, even the God of Israel.

4For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me.

5I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me,

6that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.

7I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.

8Rain, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it.

9Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands’?

10Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you given birth to?’”

11Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!

12I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.

13I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.

14Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.

15Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’”

16They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.

17Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.

18For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh. There is no other.

19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.

20“Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.

21Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me.

22“Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

23I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.

24They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’” Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him will be disappointed.

25All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice!