Isaiah 42 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Look! Here is my servant, the one I support; my chosen one who pleases me. I have placed my Spirit on him, and he will show the nations what is right.
1 “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
2 He won't shout or cry out; he won't raise his voice in the street.
2 He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.
3 He won't break a damaged reed; he won't snuff out a smoldering wick. He will faithfully make sure everyone is treated fairly.
3 He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.
4 He won't give up or become discouraged until he has made sure that justice is upheld throughout the world. Even lands overseas will look forward to his teachings.
4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice on the earth, and the islands wait for his law.”
5 This is what God the Lord says, the one who created the heavens and stretched them out, who made the earth and everything in it, who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who live there:
5 God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:
6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate what's right, and I will hold your hand. I will take care of you, and give you as a sign of my agreement with the people and as a light to the nations.
6 “I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness. I will hold your hand. I will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations,
7 You will make the blind see, set free those who are locked up, and lead those who sit in darkness out from prison.
7 to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.
8 I am the Lord—that is my name! I do not give my honor to anyone else; I do not give my praise to idols.
8 “I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.
9 Notice that what I foretold has come true, as will the new things I'm saying to you now. I tell you what will happen before it does.”
9 Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”
10 Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing praise from everywhere on earth, you who sail on the sea and everything in it, you islands and everyone who lives in them.
10 Sing to Yahweh a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the people in the desert and its towns shout; let the people of the villages of Kedar cry out loud. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountain-tops.
11 Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains!
12 Let them glorify the Lord and praise him in the islands.
12 Let them give glory to Yahweh, and declare his praise in the islands.
13 Like a mighty warrior the Lord will march out, like a seasoned soldier he goes out with courage. He gives his war-cry, shouting as he battles and defeats his enemies.
13 Yahweh will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. He will raise a war cry. Yes, he will shout aloud. He will triumph over his enemies.
14 “I didn't say anything for a long time, I kept quiet and restrained myself. But now like a woman giving birth, I will moan and gasp and pant.
14 “I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.
15 I will dry up the mountains and the hills, and make all their greenery wither. I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools.
15 I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind along a road they don't know; I will guide them along paths they don't know. I will turn darkness into light before them, and smooth out the rough places. This is what I'm going to do for them; I won't let them down.
16 I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols and say to images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be rejected in humiliation and shame.
17 “Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed.
18 Listen, you deaf people! Look and see, you blind people!
18 “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind like my servant? Who is deaf like my messenger that I send? Who is as blind as the people of the agreement? Who is as blind as the servant of the Lord?
19 Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as Yahweh’s servant?
20 You've looked at many things but have not really seen; you've heard but never really listened.”
20 You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.
21 Because the Lord does what is right he wanted to show how important and wonderful his instructions were.
21 It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it honorable.
22 But this people ended up robbed and raided, all of them trapped in holes or hidden in prisons. They have been stolen like loot, with no one to save them from being someone's prize, no one to say “Give them back!”
22 But this is a robbed and plundered people. All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prisons. They have become captives, and no one delivers, and a plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore them!’
23 Who of you is going to listen to this, or pay attention later on?
23 Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
24 Who let Jacob be taken as loot; who let Israel be taken by robbers? Wasn't it the Lord who we sinned against? The people weren't willing to follow his ways, and they refused to obey his law.
24 Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.
25 So he poured out his furious anger on them, and the violence of war. Even though they were surrounded by flames, but they still didn't understand. The fire burned them up, but they still did not take the situation seriously.
25 Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”
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.