Isaiah

¹ “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.

² or raise his voice in the streets.

³ and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

⁴ till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”

⁵ he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:

⁶ I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,

⁷ to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

⁸ I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.

⁹ and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”

¹⁰ Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.

¹¹ let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.

¹² and proclaim his praise in the islands.

¹³ like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.

¹⁴ I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.

¹⁵ and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools.

¹⁶ along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.

¹⁷ who say to images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back in utter shame.

¹⁸ “Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see!

¹⁹ and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?

²⁰ your ears are open, but you hear nothing.”

²¹ for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious.

²² all of them trapped in pits or hidden away in prisons. They have become plunder, with no one to rescue them; they have been made loot, with no one to say, “Send them back.”

²³ or pay close attention in time to come?

²⁴ and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned? For they would not follow his ways; they did not obey his law.

²⁵ the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.