6“I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness,
         I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
         And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
         As a light to the nations,

7To open blind eyes,
         To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
         And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

8“I am the LORD, that is My name;
         I will not give My glory to another,
         Nor My praise to graven images.

9“Behold, the former things have come to pass,
         Now I declare new things;
         Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

10Sing to the LORD a new song,
         Sing His praise from the end of the earth!
         You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it.
         You islands, and those who dwell on them.

11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
         The settlements where Kedar inhabits.
         Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud,
         Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.

12Let them give glory to the LORD
         And declare His praise in the coastlands.

13The LORD will go forth like a warrior,
         He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.
         He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
         He will prevail against His enemies.

The Blindness of the People

14“I have kept silent for a long time,
         I have kept still and restrained Myself.
         Now like a woman in labor I will groan,
         I will both gasp and pant.

15“I will lay waste the mountains and hills
         And wither all their vegetation;
         I will make the rivers into coastlands
         And dry up the ponds.

16“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,
         In paths they do not know I will guide them.
         I will make darkness into light before them
         And rugged places into plains.
         These are the things I will do,
         And I will not leave them undone.”

17They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,
         Who trust in idols,
         Who say to molten images,
         “You are our gods.”

18Hear, you deaf!
         And look, you blind, that you may see.

19Who is blind but My servant,
         Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
         Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me,
         Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?

20You have seen many things, but you do not observe them;
         Your ears are open, but none hears.

21The LORD was pleased for His righteousness’ sake
         To make the law great and glorious.

22But this is a people plundered and despoiled;
         All of them are trapped in caves,
         Or are hidden away in prisons;
         They have become a prey with none to deliver them,
         And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!”

23Who among you will give ear to this?
         Who will give heed and listen hereafter?

24Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?
         Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
         And in whose ways they were not willing to walk,
         And whose law they did not obey?

25So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
         And the fierceness of battle;
         And it set him aflame all around,
         Yet he did not recognize it;
         And it burned him, but he paid no attention.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

Douay-Rheims Bible
I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles:

Darby Bible Translation
I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will take hold of thy hand; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations,

English Revised Version
I 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;

Webster's Bible Translation
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

World English Bible
"I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;

Young's Literal Translation
I, Jehovah, did call thee in righteousness, And I lay hold on thy hand, and keep thee, And I give thee for a covenant of a people, And a light of nations.Christ the Arrester of Incipient Evil and the Nourisher of Incipient Good
'A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench.... He shall not fail nor be discouraged.'--ISAIAH xlii. 3, 4. The two metaphors which we have in the former part of these words are not altogether parallel. 'A bruised reed' has suffered an injury which, however, is neither complete nor irreparable. 'Smoking flax,' on the other hand--by which, of course, is meant flax used as a wick in an old-fashioned oil lamp--is partially lit. In the one a process has been begun which, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

How to Make Use of Christ as the Truth, when Error Prevaileth, and the Spirit of Error Carrieth Many Away.
There is a time when the spirit of error is going abroad, and truth is questioned, and many are led away with delusions. For Satan can change himself into an angel of light, and make many great and fairlike pretensions to holiness, and under that pretext usher in untruths, and gain the consent of many unto them; so that in such a time of temptation many are stolen off their feet, and made to depart from the right ways of God, and to embrace error and delusions instead of truth. Now the question is, …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant
"I give thee for a covenant of the people."--ISA. xlii. 6, xlix. 8. "The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in."--MAL. iii. 1. "Jesus was made Surety of a better covenant."--HEB. vii. 22. "The Mediator of the Better Covenant, established upon better promises . . . The Mediator of the New Covenant. . . Ye are come to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant."--HEB. viii. 6, ix. 15, xii. 24. WE have here four titles given to our Lord Jesus in …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Words of Counsel.
"A bruised reed shall He not break."--Isaiah xlii. 3; Matt. xii. 20. It is dangerous for those who are seeking salvation to lean upon the experience of other people. Many are waiting for a repetition of the experience of their grandfather or grandmother. I had a friend who was converted in a field; and he thinks the whole town ought to go down into that meadow and be converted. Another was converted under a bridge; and he thinks that if any enquirer were to go there he would find the Lord. The best …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

The Blessed Journey
Gerhard Ter Steegen Is. xlii. 16 Let Him lead thee blindfold onwards, Love needs not to know; Children whom the Father leadeth Ask not where they go. Though the path be all unknown, Over moors and mountains lone. Give no ear to reason's questions: Let the blind man hold That the sun is but a fable Men believed of old. At the breast the babe will grow; Whence the milk he need not know. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

China Evangelized.
China Evangelized. "The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle."--Isa. xlii. 4. PART I. PART II. PART III. Lift up your heads, ye gates of brass! Ye bars of Iron! yield; And let the King of Glory pass,-- The Cross is in the field. That banner, brighter than the star, That leads the train of night, Shines on their march and guides from far His servants to the fight. A holy war those servants wage; --Mysteriously at strife, The powers of heaven and hell engage For more than death or life. …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Prayer Taught and Encouraged.
(Probably Judæa.) ^C Luke XI. 1-13. ^c 1 And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples. [Jesus had already taught his disciples how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. This disciple probably thought that the prayer already taught was too brief to be sufficient, especially as Jesus often prayed so long. It was customary for the rabbis to give their disciples forms …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Book ix. Epistle i. To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari).
To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). Gregory to Januarius, &c. The preacher of Almighty God, Paul the apostle, says, Rebuke not an elder (1 Tim. v. 1). But this rule of his is to be observed in cases where the fault of an elder does not draw through his example the hearts of the younger into ruin. But, when an elder sets an example to the young for their ruin, he is to be smitten with severe rebuke. For it is written, Ye are all a snare to the young (Isai. xlii. 22). And again the prophet …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

"But if we Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have Fellowship one with Another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His
1 John i. 7.--"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Art is the imitation of nature, and true religion is a divine art, that consists in the imitation of God himself, the author of nature. Therefore it is a more high and transcendent thing, of a sublimer nature than all the arts and sciences among men. Those reach but to some resemblance of the wisdom of God, expressed in his works, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"And He is the Propitiation,"
1 John ii. 2.--"And he is the propitiation," &c. Here is the strength of Christ's plea, and ground of his advocation, that "he is the propitiation." The advocate is the priest, and the priest is the sacrifice, and such efficacy this sacrifice hath, that the propitiatory sacrifice may be called the very propitiation and pacification for sin. Here is the marrow of the gospel, and these are the breasts of consolation which any poor sinner might draw by faith, and bring out soul refreshment. But truly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Isaiah 42:6 NIV • Isaiah 42:6 NLT • Isaiah 42:6 ESV • Isaiah 42:6 NASB • Isaiah 42:6 KJV • Isaiah 42:6 Bible Apps • Isaiah 42:6 Parallel • Bible Hub