1 Jacob is my servant, I will help him: Israel is my chosen, my soul has accepted him; I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up [his voice], nor shall his voice be heard without. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench; but he shall bring forth judgment to truth. 4 He shall shine out, and shall not be discouraged, until he have set judgment on the earth: and in his name shall the Gentiles trust. 5 Thus saith the Lord God, who made the heaven, and established it; who settled the earth, and the things in it, and gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that tread on it: 6 I the Lord God have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will strengthen thee: and I have given thee for the covenant of a race, for a light of the Gentiles; 7 to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound and them that sit in darkness out of bonds and the prison-house. 8 I am the Lord God: that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praises to graven images. 9 Behold, the ancient things have come to pass, and [so will] the new things which I tell you: yea, before I tell [them] they are made known to you. 10 Sing a new hymn to the Lord: ye [who are] his dominion, glorify his name from the end of the earth: ye that go down to the sea, and sail upon it; the islands, and they that dwell in them. 11 Rejoice, thou wilderness, and the villages thereof, the hamlets, and the dwellers in Kedar: the inhabitants of the rock shall rejoice, they shall shout from the top of the mountains. 12 They shall give glory to God, [and] shall proclaim his praises in the islands. 13 The Lord God of hosts shall go forth, and crush the war: he shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout mightily against his enemies. 14 I have been silent: shall I also always be silent and forbear? I have endured like a travailing [woman]: I will [now] amaze and wither at once. 15 I will make desolate mountains and hills, and will dry up all their grass; and I will make the rivers islands, and dry up the pools. 16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, and I will cause them to tread paths which they have not known: I will turn darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things will I do, and will not forsake them. 17 But they are turned back: be ye utterly ashamed that trust in graven [images], who say to the molten [images], Ye are our gods. 18 Hear, ye deaf, and look up, ye blind, to see. 19 And who is blind, but my servants? and deaf, but they that rule over them? yea, the servants of God have been made blind. 20 Ye have often seen, and have not taken heed; [your] ears have been opened, and ye have not heard. 21 The Lord God has taken counsel that he might be justified, and might magnify [his] praise. 22 And I beheld, and the people were spoiled and plundered: for [there is] a snare in the secret chambers everywhere, and in the houses also, where they have hidden them: they became a spoil, and there was no one that delivered the prey, and there was none who said, Restore. 23 Who [is there] among you that will give ear to these things? hearken ye to the things which are coming to pass. 24 For what did he give Jacob up to spoil, and Israel to them that plundered him? Did not God [do it] against whom they sinned? [and] they would not walk in his ways, nor hearken to his law. 25 So he brought upon them the fury of his wrath; and the war, and those that burnt round about them, prevailed against them; yet no one of them knew [it], neither did they lay [it] to heart.
Isaiah · Brenton's English Septuagint
Isaiah 42 Brenton's English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
- Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.
Cross references (25)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Matthew 12:18–21; Luke 3:22; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 43:10
- 2 Matthew 12:16–20; 2 Timothy 2:24; 1 Peter 2:23; Matthew 11:29; Luke 17:20
- 3 Ezekiel 34:16; Jeremiah 31:25; Psalm 147:3; Matthew 11:28; Isaiah 40:11
- 4 Isaiah 53:2–12; Isaiah 55:5; Genesis 49:10; Psalm 22:27; Isaiah 52:13–15
- 5 Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 45:12; Jeremiah 10:12; Zechariah 12:1; Isaiah 48:13
- 6 John 8:12; Luke 2:32; Isaiah 26:3; Acts 13:47; Isaiah 49:8
- 7 Ephesians 1:17–18; Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 49:9; Isaiah 35:5; 2 Timothy 2:26
- 8 Isaiah 48:11; Isaiah 43:11; Exodus 34:14; Exodus 20:3–5; Psalm 83:18
- 9 Isaiah 43:19; Isaiah 46:9–10; John 13:19; 2 Peter 1:19–21; Isaiah 44:7–8
- 10 Psalm 33:3; Isaiah 42:4; Psalm 40:3; Romans 15:9–11; Psalm 98:1–4
- 11 Isaiah 32:16; Isaiah 60:7; Psalm 72:8–10; Isaiah 41:18–19; Psalm 120:5
- 12 Romans 15:9–11; Psalm 117:1–2; Isaiah 66:18–19; Revelation 7:9–12; Isaiah 42:4
- 13 Exodus 15:1–3; Psalm 78:65; Isaiah 59:16–19; Amos 1:2; Psalm 110:5–6
- 14 Psalm 83:1–2; Luke 18:7; Jeremiah 44:22; 2 Peter 3:9–10; 2 Peter 3:15
- 15 Isaiah 50:2; Nahum 1:4–6; Isaiah 44:27; Isaiah 2:12–16; Revelation 20:11
- 16 Isaiah 30:21; Luke 3:5; Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 60:19–20; Luke 1:78–79
- 17 Psalm 97:7; Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 44:11; Isaiah 45:16–17; Isaiah 44:17
- 18 Isaiah 43:8; Mark 7:34–37; Isaiah 29:18; Proverbs 20:12; Isaiah 35:5
- 19 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ezekiel 12:2; Jeremiah 5:21; Romans 2:17–23; Matthew 15:14–16
- 20 Deuteronomy 29:2–4; Acts 28:22–27; Isaiah 1:3; Isaiah 58:2; John 11:37–50
- 21 Hebrews 8:10; Romans 3:31; Romans 7:12; Matthew 5:17–20; Isaiah 42:4
- 22 Psalm 102:20; Jeremiah 50:17; Isaiah 51:23; Isaiah 24:22; Psalm 50:22
- 23 Acts 3:22–23; Isaiah 48:18; Leviticus 26:40–42; Matthew 21:28–31; Deuteronomy 4:29–31
- 24 Isaiah 59:1–2; Judges 10:7; Lamentations 1:14; Jeremiah 25:8–9; Lamentations 1:18
- 25 Isaiah 57:11; Hosea 7:9; Ezekiel 7:8–9; Malachi 2:2; Revelation 16:1–21
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… for the Lord hath spoken." And again: "Thus saith the Lord God, who made the heaven, and stretched it out; who established the earth, and the things in it; and who giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them who walk therein."
He shall shine and shall not be broken, until He sets judgment in the earth: and the nations shall hope in His name." The Hebrew has not "Jacob" and "Israel;" but the Septuagint translators, wishing to show the significance of the expression "my servant," and that it refers to the form of a servant in which the Most High humbled …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory. And in His name shall the Gentiles trust." The prophet celebrates His meekness, and His unspeakable power, and opens to the Gentiles "a great door and effectual;" he foretells also the ills that are to overtake the Jews, and …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… it seeth Him not,...but ye know Him; for he dwelleth with you." And so says Isaiah;--"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 trample on it"; for they that trample down earthly things and rise above them are borne witness …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
… in a more gentle manner; and the Lord's advent as a man was pointed out, that it should be subsequent to that law which was given by Moses, mild and tranquil, in which He would neither break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. The mild and peaceful repose of His kingdom was indicated likewise.