Isaiah 42-46

American Standard Version

42 Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the ^[a]Gentiles. ² He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. ³ A bruised reed will he not break, and a dimly burning wick will he not quench: he will bring forth justice in truth. ⁴ He will not ^[b]fail nor be ^[c]discouraged, till he have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.

⁵ Thus saith God Jehovah, he that created the heavens, and stretched them forth; he that spread abroad the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: ⁶ I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will ^[d]keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; ⁷ to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. ⁸ I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images. ⁹ Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.

¹⁰ Sing unto Jehovah a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. ¹¹ Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. ¹² Let them give glory unto Jehovah, and declare his praise in the islands. ¹³ Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man; he will stir up his zeal like a man of war: he will cry, yea, he will shout aloud; he will do mightily against his enemies.

¹⁴ I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will ^[e]gasp and pant together. ¹⁵ I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools. ¹⁶ And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; in paths that they know not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things will I do, ^[f]and I will not forsake them. ¹⁷ They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly put to shame, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images, Ye are our gods.

¹⁸ Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. ¹⁹ Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I send? who is blind as he that is ^[g]at peace with me, and blind as Jehovah’s servant? ²⁰ Thou seest many things, but thou observest not; his ears are open, but he heareth not. ²¹ It pleased Jehovah, for his righteousness’ sake, to ^[h]magnify the law, and make it honorable. ²² But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.

²³ Who is there among you that will give ear to this? that will hearken and hear for the time to come? ²⁴ Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not Jehovah? he against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto his ^[i]law. ²⁵ Therefore he poured upon him the fierceness of his anger, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

43 But now thus saith Jehovah that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. ² When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. ³ For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour; I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead. ⁴ Since thou hast been precious in my sight, ^[j]and honorable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men in thy stead, and peoples instead of thy life. ⁵ Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; ⁶ I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth; ⁷ every one that is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yea, whom I have made.

⁸ Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. ^9 [k]Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; ^[l]or let them hear, and say, It is truth. ¹⁰ Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. ¹¹ I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour. ¹² I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God. ¹³ Yea, ^[m]since the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who can hinder it?

¹⁴ Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down ^[n]all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. ¹⁵ I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. ¹⁶ Thus saith Jehovah, who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; ^17 [o]who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick): ¹⁸ Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. ¹⁹ Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ²⁰ The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, ²¹ the people which I formed for myself, ^[p]that they might set forth my praise.

²² Yet thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. ²³ Thou hast not brought me of thy sheep for burnt-offerings; neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not burdened thee with ^[q]offerings, nor wearied thee with frankincense. ²⁴ Thou hast bought me no ^[r]sweet cane with money, neither hast thou ^[s]filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices; but thou hast burdened me with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

²⁵ I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake; and I will not remember thy sins. ²⁶ Put me in remembrance; let us plead together: set thou forth thy cause, that thou mayest be justified. ²⁷ Thy first father sinned, and thy ^[t]teachers have transgressed against me. ²⁸ Therefore I ^[u]will profane the ^[v]princes of the sanctuary; and I ^[w]will make Jacob a ^[x]curse, and Israel a reviling.

44 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel, who I have chosen: ² Thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. ³ For I will pour water upon ^[y]him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: ⁴ and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. ⁵ One shall say, I am Jehovah’s; and another shall ^[z]call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall ^[aa]subscribe with his hand unto Jehovah, and ^[ab]surname himself by the name of Israel.

⁶ Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. ^7 [ac]And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass, let them ^[ad]declare. ⁸ Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.

⁹ They that fashion a graven image are all of them ^[ae]vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame. ¹⁰ Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹ Behold, ^[af]all his fellows shall be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be put to shame together.

¹² The smith ^[ag]maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint. ¹³ The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with ^[ah]a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ¹⁴ He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth ^[ai]a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it. ¹⁵ Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. ¹⁶ He burneth ^[aj]part thereof in the fire; with ^[ak]part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. ¹⁷ And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

¹⁸ They know not, neither do they consider: for he hath ^[al]shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. ¹⁹ And none calleth to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? ²⁰ He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside; and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

²¹ Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. ²² I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. ²³ Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.

²⁴ Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth ^[am](who is with me?); ²⁵ that frustrateth the signs of the ^[an]liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; ²⁶ that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof; ²⁷ that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers; ²⁸ That saith of ^[ao]Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; ^[ap]and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

45 Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: ² I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; ³ and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that it is I, Jehovah, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel. ⁴ For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. ⁵ I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me; ⁶ that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. ⁷ I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things.

⁸ Distil, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, that ^[aq]it may ^[ar]bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up together; I, Jehovah, have created it.

⁹ Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? ¹⁰ Woe unto him that saith unto a father, What begettest thou? or to a woman, With what travailest thou?

¹¹ Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. ¹² I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded. ¹³ I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith Jehovah of hosts.

¹⁴ Thus saith Jehovah, The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall go after thee, in chains they shall come over; and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God. ¹⁵ Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. ¹⁶ They shall be put to shame, yea, confounded, all of them; they shall go into confusion together that are makers of idols. ¹⁷ But Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be put to shame nor confounded world without end.

¹⁸ For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not ^[as]a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else. ¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me ^[at]in vain: I, Jehovah, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

²⁰ Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. ²¹ Declare ye, and ^[au]bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath showed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me. ²² Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. ²³ By myself have I sworn, ^[av]the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. ²⁴ Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all they that were incensed against him shall be put to shame. ²⁵ In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

46 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: the things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. ² They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.

³ Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne by me from their birth, that have been carried from the womb; ⁴ and even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs will I carry you; I have made, and I will bear; yea, I will carry, and will deliver. ⁵ To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? ⁶ Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship. ⁷ They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth, from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

⁸ Remember this, and ^[aw]show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. ⁹ Remember the former things of old: ^[ax]for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; ¹⁰ declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; ¹¹ calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of ^[ay]my counsel from a far country; yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.

¹² Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness: ¹³ I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will ^[az]place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.