Isaiah 42

¹⁸“Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.

¹⁹He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets.

²²and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

¹³Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,

¹⁰“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none will come.

⁷but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.

¹⁶warning them not to make Him known.

¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

²⁴And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.

²³When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

²⁰When asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs.

⁹Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁶I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’

²⁵for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”

³He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

²⁸Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

¹¹He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

³And He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear,

⁴but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.

²He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.

³He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

⁵Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.”

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

²⁷All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.

¹³Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness—

²¹In His name the nations will put their hope.”

²²He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

¹²It is I who made the earth and created man upon it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I ordained all their host.

¹²The Lord made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

¹This is the burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:

¹³Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.

²He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,

³laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.

¹²Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”

³You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.

⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁸This is what the Lord says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances,

⁶He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

¹⁸I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,

⁹to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.

⁵Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

²⁶Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.

¹⁴Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,

¹⁵and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

¹¹For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.

¹¹I, yes I, am the Lord, and there is no Savior but Me.

¹⁴For you must not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

³You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

¹⁸May they know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are Most High over all the earth.

¹³Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

¹⁹Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

⁹Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

¹⁹I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it comes to pass, you will believe that I am He.

¹⁹We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

²⁰Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.

⁷Who then is like Me? Let him say so! Let him declare his case before Me, since I established an ancient people. Let him foretell the things to come, and what is to take place.

⁸Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I know not one.”

¹⁴Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the Lord your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed.

¹⁵But just as every good thing the Lord your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the Lord will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.

³Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.

⁴He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”

³He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

⁹so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.”

¹⁰Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.”

¹A Psalm. Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand and holy arm have gained Him the victory.

²The Lord has proclaimed His salvation and revealed His righteousness to the nations.

⁹And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

¹⁶Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.

⁷All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on My altar with acceptance; I will adorn My glorious house.

⁸May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.

⁹May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.

¹⁸I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.

¹⁹I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,

⁵Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!

¹⁶For this is what the Lord says to me: “Within one year, as a hired worker would count it, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

⁹so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to Your name.”

¹⁰Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.”

¹Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples!

²For great is His loving devotion toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Hallelujah!

¹⁸“And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

¹⁹I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.

⁹After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

⁴He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”

¹⁵Therefore glorify the Lord in the east. Extol the name of the Lord, the God of Israel in the islands of the sea.

¹⁶From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me.” The treacherous betray; the treacherous deal in treachery.

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.

²The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

²He said: “The Lord roars from Zion and raises His voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”

⁵The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.

⁶He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead; He will crush the leaders far and wide.

⁸Therefore wait for Me,” declares the Lord, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation—all My burning anger. For all the earth will be consumed by the fire of My jealousy.

¹A song. A Psalm of Asaph. O God, be not silent; be not speechless; be not still, O God.

²See how Your enemies rage, how Your foes have reared their heads.

⁷Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them?

²²So the Lord could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.

¹⁵Consider also that our Lord’s patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him.

⁶You have forsaken Me, declares the Lord. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.

²Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.

⁴He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.

⁵The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.

²⁷who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’

¹²For the Day of the Lord of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—

¹³against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan,

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.

⁷Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.

⁸Then the second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood,

²¹And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

⁵Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.

⁸And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.

¹⁹No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.

²⁰Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will cease.

⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,

⁷⁹to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

⁴Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

⁷All worshipers of images are put to shame—those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!

²⁹Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.

¹¹Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame.

¹⁶They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.

¹⁷But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.

¹⁷From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

⁸How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁸Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind, and who have ears but are deaf.

³⁴And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).

³⁵Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

¹²Ears that hear and eyes that see—the Lord has made them both.

⁵Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

¹⁷You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

¹⁸I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

²“Son of man, you are living in a rebellious house. They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

²¹“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

¹⁷Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;

¹⁸if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;

¹⁴Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”

³⁹Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”

²Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.

³You saw with your own eyes the great trials, and those miraculous signs and wonders.

²²But we consider your views worth hearing, because we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

²³So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.

³The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”

²For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”

³⁷But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”

³⁸Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

⁴³Let him who is wise pay heed to these things and consider the loving devotion of the Lord.

¹⁰For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

³¹Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.

¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

¹⁷Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

¹⁸For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

⁴He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”

⁸I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”

²⁰to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,

¹⁷Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

²³I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”

²²They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.

²²Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

⁴¹As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it

⁴²and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

²²For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you.

²³Everyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people.’

¹⁸If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea.

⁴⁰But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—

⁴¹and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,

²⁸But what do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.

²⁹But if from there you will seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

³⁰When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

⁴Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

⁵Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ This you have spoken, but you keep doing all the evil you can.”

¹Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.

²But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.

⁷So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,

¹⁴My transgressions are bound into a yoke, knit together by His hand; they are draped over my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has delivered me into the hands of those I cannot withstand.

⁸Therefore this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Because you have not obeyed My words,

⁹behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

¹⁸The Lord is righteous, yet I rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.

¹This is what the Lord says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

²Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.

¹¹Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?

⁹Foreigners consume his strength, but he does not notice. Even his hair is streaked with gray, but he does not know.

⁸Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you and vent My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.

⁹I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who strikes the blow.

²If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the Lord of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.

¹Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.”

²So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

¹⁵and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,

¹⁶then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.