ISAIAH 42
1. Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth,
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
5 Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those
who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.*
9 See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell
you of them.
10 Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roarx and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of
Sela shout for joy; let them shout from the tops of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 The Lord goes forth like a soldier; like a warrior he stirs up his fury; he cries out; he shouts aloud; he
shows himself mighty against his foes.
14 For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a
woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their herbage; I will turn the rivers into islands and
dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by a road they do not know; by paths they have not known I will guide them. I will
turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will
do, and I will not forsake them.*
17 They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—those who trust in carved images, who say to
cast images, “You are our gods.”*
ISAIAH 41:8-15
8. But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant; I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
11 All who are incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; those who strive against you shall
be as nothing and shall perish.
12 You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Do not fear, I will help you.”
14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you maggots Israel! I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the
Holy One of Israel.*
15 I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains
and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff.*