Yahweh’s Chosen Servant

1“Behold, My Servant, whom I [†]uphold;

My chosen one in whom My soul is well-pleased.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the [†]nations.

2He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

3A crushed reed He will not break

And a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will bring forth justice in truth.

4He will not be faint or crushed

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His [†]law.”

5Thus says the God, Yahweh,

Who created the heavens and stretched them out,

Who spread out the earth and its [†]offspring,

Who gives breath to the people on it

And spirit to those who walk in it,

6“I am Yahweh, I have called You in righteousness;

I will also take hold of You by the hand and guard You,

And I will give 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 inhabit darkness from the prison.

8I am Yahweh, that is My name;

I will not give My glory to another,

Nor My praise to [†]graven images.

9Behold, the former things have come to pass;

Now I declare new things;

Before they spring forth I cause you to hear them.”

10Sing to Yahweh a new song,

Sing His praise from the end of the earth!

You who go down to the sea, as well as its fullness.

You coastlands, and those who inhabit them.

11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,

The villages 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 Yahweh

And declare His praise in the coastlands.

13Yahweh will go forth like a warrior;

He will awaken His zeal like a man of war.

He will make a loud shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry.

He will prevail against His enemies.

Israel’s Blindness and Deafness

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.

15I will lay waste the mountains and hills

And dry up all their vegetation;

I will make the rivers into coastlands

And dry up the pools of waters.

16I 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 forsake them.”

17They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,

Who trust in graven images,

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 Yahweh?

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

Your ears are open, but none hears.

21Yahweh was pleased for His righteousness’ sake

That He make the law great and majestic.

22But this is a people plundered and pillaged as spoil;

All of them are trapped in [†]caves,

Or are hidden away in prisons;

They have become a plunder with none to deliver them,

And a spoil, with none to say, “Have them return!”

23Who among you will give ear to this?

Who will give heed and hear hereafter?

24Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?

Was it not Yahweh, 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 know it;

And it burned him, but he did not set it upon his heart.