ישעיהו מב

This is My servant, whom I uphold,
My chosen one, in whom I delight.
I have put My spirit upon him,
He shall teach the true way to the nations.

He shall not cry out or shout aloud,
Or make his voice heard in the streets.

He shall not break even a bruised reed,
Or snuff out even a dim wick.
He shall bring forth the true way.

He shall not grow dim or be bruised
Till he has established the true way on earth;
And the coastlands shall await his teaching.

Thus said the ETERNAL God,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and what it brings forth,
Who gave breath to the people upon it
And life to those who walk thereon:

I GOD, in My grace, have summoned you,
And I have grasped you by the hand.
I created you, and appointed you
A covenant people, a light of nations—

Opening eyes deprived of light,
Rescuing prisoners from confinement,
From the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

I am GOD, that is My name;
I will not yield My glory to another,
Nor My renown to idols.

See, the things once predicted have come,
And now I foretell new things,
Announce to you ere they sprout up.

Sing to GOD a new song,
Praise from the ends of the earth—
You who sail the sea and you creatures in it,
You coastlands and their inhabitants!

Let the desert and its towns cry aloud,
The villages where Kedar dwells;
Let Sela’s inhabitants shout,
Call out from the peaks of the mountains.

Let them do honor to GOD,
And tell God’s glory in the coastlands.

GOD goes forth like a warrior,
Whipping up rage like a fighter—
Yelling, roaring aloud,
Then charging upon the enemy.

“I have kept silent far too long,
Kept still and restrained Myself;
Now I will scream like a woman in labor,
I will pant and I will gasp.

Hills and heights will I scorch,
Cause all their green to wither;
I will turn rivers into isles,
And dry the marshes up.

I will lead the blind
By a road they did not know,
And I will make them walk
By paths they never knew.
I will turn darkness before them to light,
Rough places into level ground.
These are the promises—
I will keep them without fail.

Driven back and utterly shamed
Shall be those who trust in an image,
Those who say to idols,
‘You are our gods!’”

Listen, you who are deaf;
You blind ones, look up and see!

Who is so blind as My servant,
So deaf as the messenger I send?
Who is so blind as the chosen one,
So blind as GOD’s servant?

Seeing many things, he gives no heed;
With ears open, he hears nothing.

GOD desires his vindication,
That he may magnify and glorify the Teaching.

Yet it is a people plundered and despoiled:
All of them are trapped in holes,
Imprisoned in dungeons.
They are given over to plunder, with none to rescue them;
To despoilment, with none to say “Give back!”

If only you would listen to this,
Attend and give heed from now on!

Who was it gave Jacob over to despoilment
And Israel to plunderers?
Surely, GOD—against whom they sinned,
In whose ways they would not walk,
And whose Teaching they would not obey—

Who poured out wrath,
Anger, and the fury of war upon them.
It blazed upon them all about, but they heeded not;
It burned among them, but they gave it no thought.