The Servant of the Lord

¹Behold My servant, whom I uphold,[#Isa 43:10; 52:13]

My chosen one, in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon him;

he shall bring forth justice to the nations.

²He shall not cry out, nor lift up his voice,

nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

³A bruised reed he shall not break,[#Ps 147:3]

and the smoking flax he shall not quench;

he shall bring forth justice faithfully.

⁴He shall not be disheartened nor be discouraged,

until he has set justice in the earth;

and the coastlands shall wait for his law.

⁵Thus says God the Lord ,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread forth the earth and that which comes out of it,

who gives breath to the people on it,

and spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶I the Lord have called You in righteousness,

and will hold Your hand,

and will keep You and appoint You

for a covenant of the people,

for a light of the nations,

⁷to open the blind eyes,[#Isa 35:5]

to bring out the prisoners from the prison,

and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house.

⁸I am the Lord , that is My name;

and My glory I will not give to another,

nor My praise to graven images.

⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.

A Song of Praise

¹⁰Sing to the Lord a new song,[#Ps 33:3; 40:3]

and His praise from the ends of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,

the coastlands, and the inhabitants.

¹¹Let the wilderness and the cities lift up their voices,[#Isa 32:16]

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 the Lord ,

and declare His praise in the islands.

¹³The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man;[#Ps 78:65]

He shall stir up zeal like a man of war.

He shall cry out, yes, raise a war cry;

He shall prevail against His enemies.

The Lord ’s Help Is Promised

¹⁴I have for a long time held My peace;

I have been still and refrained Myself.

Now I will cry like a travailing woman;

I will destroy and devour at once.

¹⁵I will lay waste mountains and hills

and dry up all their vegetation,

and I will make the rivers islands,

and I will dry up the pools.

¹⁶I will bring the blind by a way that they did not know;[#Isa 29:18; 32:3]

I will lead them in paths that they have not known.

I will make darkness light before them

and crooked things straight.

These things I will do for them

and not forsake them.

¹⁷They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed,[#Ps 97:7; Isa 1:29]

who trust in graven images,

who say to the molded images, “You are our gods.”

Israel’s Disobedience

¹⁸Hear, you deaf;

look, you blind, that you may see.

¹⁹Who is blind, but My servant?

Or deaf, as My messenger whom I sent?

Who is blind as he who is at peace with Me,

and blind as the servant of the Lord ?

²⁰You have seen many things, but you do not observe them;

your ears are open, but no one hears.

²¹The Lord is well pleased

for His righteousness’ sake

to magnify the law and make it honorable.

²²But this is a people robbed and despoiled;

they are all snared in holes,

and they are hidden in prison houses;

they are for a prey,

and no one delivers,

for a spoil,

and no one says, “Restore them.”

²³Who among you will give ear to this?

Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

²⁴Who gave up Jacob as spoil,

and Israel to the robbers?

Did not the Lord ,

against whom we have sinned?

For they would not walk in His ways,

nor were they obedient to His law.

²⁵Therefore, He has poured on him the fury of His anger

and the strength of battle;

and it has set him on fire all around, yet he did not recognize it;

and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.