The Lord’s Chosen Servant
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 aa bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
bhe will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and athe coastlands wait for his law.
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens aand stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
bwho gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord; aI have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you bas a covenant for the people,
ca light for the nations,
7 ato open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
bfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
amy glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,
aand new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”
Sing to the Lord a New Song
10 aSing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,
byou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
cthe coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that aKedar inhabits;
let the habitants of bSela 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 athe coastlands.
13 aThe Lord goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war bhe stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, che 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 alike a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
15 aI will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
16 aAnd 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,
bthe rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
17 aThey 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 blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 aHe sees many things, but does not observe them;
bhis 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
aand 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, abut he did not understand;
it burned him up, bbut he did not take it to heart.