Isaiah 42

Look at my servant, the one I hold up. He is the one I chose, and my whole being is delighted with him. I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.

1Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

Note"Servant" translates a Hebrew word (ebed) for anyone in another's service, from a household slave to a king's trusted official (it carries no sense of insult. Isaiah uses it a few verses earlier for the whole people of Israel (41:8), and here for a figure the text never names, so the identity is left open in the Hebrew itself. "Judgment" in the King James does not mean condemnation: the Hebrew mishpat means a right ruling, and by extension justice as a settled state of affairs. "Gentiles" translates goyim, simply "the nations") everyone outside Israel.

2He will not shout or raise his voice. He will not make himself heard in the streets.

2He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

3He will not break a reed that is already bent, and he will not put out a wick that is barely smoking. He will faithfully bring justice about.

3A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

NoteA reed is a tall hollow marsh plant, snapped easily by hand; flax is the plant fiber twisted into wicks for small clay oil lamps. A bent reed and a wick down to its last smoke were both things you would normally throw away. "Quench" means put out.

4He will not grow weak or lose heart until he has set justice in place on the earth. The lands across the sea will wait for his teaching.

4He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

Note"The isles" translates iyyim, the coastlands and islands of the Mediterranean, for Isaiah's hearers, the far edge of the known world westward. "Law" here is torah, which means instruction or teaching rather than legislation; the same word appears again in verses 21 and 24.

5This is what God the LORD says. He created the heavens and spread them out. He spread out the earth and everything it produces. He gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who walk on it. He says:

5Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth 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:

NoteHebrew uses one family of words for breath, wind, and spirit, so "breath" and "spirit" in this verse are near-synonyms for the life in a living body. "Stretched them out" pictures the sky being spread like a tent cloth.

6"I am the LORD. I have called you for a right purpose. I will take hold of your hand and keep you safe. I will make you a covenant for the people and a light for the nations.

6I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

NoteA covenant is a formal binding agreement, the word was used for treaties between kings and for the sworn bond between God and Israel. "Give thee for a covenant of the people" is famously obscure in the Hebrew; it can mean the servant embodies the agreement, or is made the means of it, and translators have never settled the question.

7You will open eyes that are blind, bring prisoners out of the dungeon, and bring those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

NoteReleasing prisoners and lifting the burdens of the poor were the standard boasts of a just king in the ancient Near East. Ancient prisons were often unlit pits or cellars, so "those who sit in darkness" and "the blind" are overlapping pictures of the same confinement.

8I am the LORD. That is my name. I will not hand over my glory to anyone else, or let carved idols take the praise that is mine.

8I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has God's personal name, the four letters YHWH, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud; the translators substituted "the LORD." So "I am the LORD: that is my name" is a claim about that specific name. "Graven" means carved.

9Look: the things I said before have now happened. Now I am announcing new things. Before they start to appear, I tell you about them."

9Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Note"The former things" and "new things" are terms Isaiah uses repeatedly in a courtroom-style argument against other gods: the point of contest is which god announced events before they happened.

10Sing a new song to the LORD. Sing his praise from the far ends of the earth, you who sail out on the sea, and everything that lives in it, you lands across the sea and everyone who lives there.

10Sing unto the LORD 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.

Note"A new song" is a set phrase, common in the Psalms, for a song composed to mark a fresh deliverance or victory rather than an old song reused.

11Let the desert and its towns lift up their voices, and the camps where the people of Kedar live. Let the people of Sela sing for joy. Let them shout from the mountaintops.

11Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

NoteKedar was a nomadic Arab tribe of the northern Arabian desert, tent-dwellers known for their flocks and their trade caravans. "The inhabitants of the rock" is ambiguous in the Hebrew: sela means simply "crag" or "rock," but it is also the name of a fortified town in Edom, so the line may mean cliff-dwellers in general or the people of that specific place.

12Let them give glory to the LORD and announce his praise in the lands across the sea.

12Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.

13The LORD will march out like a strong man. He will stir up his zeal like a soldier going into battle. He will shout, yes, he will roar, and he will win against his enemies.

13The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.

Note"Jealousy" here is qinah, a word for fierce heat of feeling (zeal, passion, protective fury), not petty envy. "A mighty man" and "a man of war" both mean a seasoned warrior.

14"For a long time I have kept quiet. I have stayed silent and held myself back. But now I will cry out like a woman giving birth. I will gasp and pant.

14I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

NoteThe two Hebrew verbs at the end of this verse are uncertain. They can be read as sounds a woman in labor makes, gasping and panting, or as "destroy and devour," which is the way the King James translators took them; the image of God in labor is being pressed either toward birth pangs or toward devastation.

15I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all the plants growing on them. I will turn rivers into dry ground and drain the pools.

15I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

Note"I will make the rivers islands" uses the same word rendered "isles" in verse 4; the sense is that riverbeds dry out until only dry patches remain. "Herbs" in 1611 English means green plants generally, not seasonings.

16I will lead blind people along a road they never knew. I will guide them on paths they have never walked. I will turn the darkness in front of them into light, and make the rough ground level. These are the things I will do for them, and I will not abandon them.

16And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

17But those who trust in carved idols, who say to metal statues, 'You are our gods,' will be turned back and put to deep shame.

17They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

NoteAncient idols were made two ways, and both are named here: carved from wood or stone, or cast by pouring molten metal into a mold. "Turned back" is the language of an army driven into retreat.

18Listen, you who are deaf. Look, you who are blind, so that you can see.

18Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

19Who is blind, if not my servant? Who is as deaf as the messenger I send? Who is as blind as the one bound to me, as blind as the servant of the LORD?

19Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant?

Note"Perfect" in 1611 English means complete or fully committed, not flawless. The Hebrew word behind it, meshullam, is a genuine puzzle (it may mean the one in a covenant relationship with God, the one paid for, or the one made whole) and translators differ sharply.

20You see many things, but you pay no attention. Your ears are open, but you do not hear.

20Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.

21It pleased the LORD, because of his own righteousness, to make his teaching great and give it honor.

21The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.

Note"Magnify" means to make large or hold up as great, not to exaggerate. "The law" is again torah, instruction.

22But these are a people robbed and stripped bare. They are all trapped in holes in the ground or shut away in prisons. They have been carried off, and no one rescues them. They were taken as loot, and no one says, "Give them back."

22But this is a people robbed and spoiled; 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.

Note"Snared in holes" pictures people caught in pits or hiding in caves, where fugitives from invading armies took shelter. "Spoil" and "prey" both mean plunder, here the plunder is people, carried off as captives, and "Restore" is the demand that they be sent home.

23Which of you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and take it in from now on?

23Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?

24Who handed Jacob over to be looted, and Israel over to robbers? Was it not the LORD, the one we have sinned against? They refused to walk in his ways, and they would not obey his teaching.

24Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.

Note"Jacob" and "Israel" are two names for the same ancestor, and both are used as names for the whole nation descended from him; pairing them in parallel lines is standard Hebrew poetic form, not a reference to two different groups.

25So he poured out on them his burning anger and the fury of war. It set them on fire all around them, but they did not understand. It burned them, but they did not take it to heart.

25Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.