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 the LORD ,

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 , the LORD , 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 the LORD .

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 the LORD 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 the LORD ,

and declare his praise in the islands.

¹³The LORD 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 the LORD ’s servant ?

²⁰You see many things , but don’t observe .

His ears are open , but he doesn’t listen .

²¹It pleased the LORD , for his righteousness ’ sake , to magnify the law

and make it honourable.

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 amongst 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 the LORD , 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 burnt him , but he didn’t take it to heart .”