Isa 42 | ESV | STEP | Behold my servant , whom I uphold , my chosen , in whom my soul delights ; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations .

1 ^aBehold ^bmy servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, ^cin whom my soul delights;
^dI have put my Spirit upon him;
^ehe will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 ^fa bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
^ghe will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged ^{▼▼Or bruised}
till he has established justice in the earth;
and ⁱthe coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens ^jand stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
^kwho gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord; ^lI have called you ^{▼▼The Hebrew for you is singular; four times in this verse} in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you ⁿas a covenant for the people,
^oa light for the nations,
7 ^pto open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
^qfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
^rmy glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,
^sand new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a New Song

10 ^tSing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
^uyou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
^vthe coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that ^wKedar inhabits;
let the habitants of ^xSela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and declare his praise in ^ythe coastlands.
13 ^zThe Lord goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war ^aahe stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, ^abhe shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out ^aclike a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
15 ^adI will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands, ^{▼▼Or into coastlands}
and dry up the pools.
16 ^afAnd I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
^agthe rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
17 ^ahThey are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”

Israel’s Failure to Hear and See

18 Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one, ^{▼▼Or as the one at peace with me}
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 ^ajHe sees many things, but does not observe them;
^akhis ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted;
they are all of them trapped in holes
^aland hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, ^ambut he did not understand;
it burned him up, ^anbut he did not take it to heart.