Isaiah 42-43

Isaiah 42

¹Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

²He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

³A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment in truth.

⁴He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.

⁵Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them forth; he that spread abroad the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

⁶I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

⁷to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

⁸I am the LORD; that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images.

⁹Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

¹⁰Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

¹¹Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

¹²Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

¹³The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man; he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, he shall shout aloud; he shall do mightily against his enemies.

¹⁴I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together.

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

¹⁶And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things will I do, and I will not forsake them.

¹⁷They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images, Ye are our gods.

¹⁸Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

¹⁹Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I send? who is blind as he that is at peace with me, and blind as the LORD’S servant?

²⁰Thou seest many things, but thou observest not; his ears are open, but he heareth not.

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

²²But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.

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

²⁴Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD? he against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto his law.

²⁵Therefore he poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Isaiah 43

¹But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.

²When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

³For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy saviour; I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

⁴Since thou hast been precious in my sight, and honourable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.

⁵Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

⁶I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth;

⁷every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory; I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

⁸Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.

⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

¹⁰Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he; before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

¹¹I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

¹²I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shewed, and there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and I am God.

¹³Yea, since the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

¹⁴Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.

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

¹⁶Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

¹⁷which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as flax:

¹⁸Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

²⁰The beasts of the field shall honour me, the jackals and the ostriches: because I give waters 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 set forth my praise.

²²Yet thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.

²³Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not made thee to serve with offerings, nor wearied thee with frankincense.

²⁴Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

²⁵I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake; and I will not remember thy sins.

²⁶Put me in remembrance; let us plead together: set thou forth thy cause, that thou mayest be justified.

²⁷Thy first father sinned, and thine interpreters have transgressed against me.

²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling.