Isaiah 41:17-43:13

English Standard Version

¹⁷^(A)When the poor and needy seek water,
    and there is none,
    and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
¹⁸^(B)I will open rivers on the bare heights,
    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
^(C)I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
    and the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹^(D)I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert ^(E)the cypress,
    the plane and the pine together,
²⁰that they may see and know,
    may consider and understand together,
that ^(F)the hand of the Lord has done this,
    the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

²¹Set forth your case, says the Lord;
    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
²²Let them bring them, and ^(G)tell us
    what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
    that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
    or declare to us the things to come.
²³^(H)Tell us what is to come hereafter,
    that we may know that you are gods;
^(I)do good, or do harm,
    that we may be dismayed and terrified.^[a]
²⁴Behold, ^(J)you are nothing,
    and your work is less than nothing;
    an abomination is he who chooses you.

²⁵^(K)I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
    ^(L)from the rising of the sun, ^(M)and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
    as the potter treads clay.
²⁶^(N)Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
    none who heard your words.
²⁷^(O)I was the first to say^[b] to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
    and ^(P)I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
²⁸^(Q)But when I look, there is no one;
    among these there is no counselor
    who, when I ask, gives an answer.
²⁹^(R)Behold, they are all a delusion;
    their works are nothing;
    their metal images are empty wind.

The Lord's Chosen Servant

42 ^(S)Behold ^(T)my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, ^(U)in whom my soul delights;
^(V)I have put my Spirit upon him;
    ^(W)he will bring forth justice to the nations.
²He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
    or make it heard in the street;
³^(X)a bruised reed he will not break,
    and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
    ^(Y)he will faithfully bring forth justice.
⁴He will not grow faint or be discouraged^[c]
    till he has established justice in the earth;
    and ^(Z)the coastlands wait for his law.

⁵Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens ^(AA)and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
^(AB)who gives breath to the people on it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶“I am the Lord; ^(AC)I have called you^[d] in righteousness;
    I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you ^(AD)as a covenant for the people,
    ^(AE)a light for the nations,
⁷    ^(AF)to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    ^(AG)from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸I am the Lord; that is my name;
    ^(AH)my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to carved idols.
⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,
    ^(AI)and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
    I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a New Song

¹⁰^(AJ)Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise from the end of the earth,
^(AK)you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
    ^(AL)the coastlands and their inhabitants.
¹¹Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
    the villages that ^(AM)Kedar inhabits;
let the habitants of ^(AN)Sela sing for joy,
    let them shout from the top of the mountains.
¹²Let them give glory to the Lord,
    and declare his praise in ^(AO)the coastlands.
¹³^(AP)The Lord goes out like a mighty man,
    like a man of war ^(AQ)he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, ^(AR)he shouts aloud,
    he shows himself mighty against his foes.

¹⁴For a long time I have held my peace;
    I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out ^(AS)like a woman in labor;
    I will gasp and pant.
¹⁵^(AT)I will lay waste mountains and hills,
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,^[e]
    and dry up the pools.
¹⁶^(AU)And 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,
    ^(AV)the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
    and I do not forsake them.
¹⁷^(AW)They 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

¹⁸Hear, you deaf,
    and look, you blind, that you may see!
¹⁹Who is blind but my servant,
    or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,^[f]
    or blind as the servant of the Lord?
²⁰^(AX)He sees many things, but does not observe them;
    ^(AY)his ears are open, but he does not hear.
²¹The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
    to magnify his law and make it glorious.
²²But this is a people plundered and looted;
    they are all of them trapped in holes
    ^(AZ)and hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
    spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
²³Who among you will give ear to this,
    will attend and listen for the time to come?
²⁴Who 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?
²⁵So he poured on him the heat of his anger
    and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, ^(BA)but he did not understand;
    it burned him up, ^(BB)but he did not take it to heart.

Israel's Only Savior

43 But now thus says the Lord,
^(BC)he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
^(BD)“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    ^(BE)I have called you by name, you are mine.
²^(BF)When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
^(BG)when you walk through fire ^(BH)you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
³For ^(BI)I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
^(BJ)I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and ^(BK)Seba in exchange for you.
⁴Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵^(BL)Fear not, for I am with you;
    ^(BM)I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
⁶I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring ^(BN)my sons from afar
    and ^(BO)my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

⁸Bring out ^(BP)the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
    who are deaf, yet have ears!
⁹^(BQ)All the nations gather together,
    and the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
    and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
    and let them hear and say, It is true.
¹⁰^(BR)“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
    “and ^(BS)my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
^(BT)Before me no god was formed,
    nor shall there be any after me.
¹¹^(BU)I, I am the Lord,
    and besides me there is no savior.
¹²I declared and saved and proclaimed,
    when there was no strange god among you;
    and ^(BV)you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.
¹³Also ^(BW)henceforth I am he;
    there is none who can deliver from my hand;
    I work, and who can turn it back?”