YESHAYAHU 42

1 “See, My Servant whom I uphold, My Chosen One My being has delighted in! I have put My Ruaḥ upon Him; He brings forth Right-Ruling to the nations.

2 “He does not cry out, nor lift up, nor causes His voice to be heard in the street.

3 “A crushed reed He does not break, and smoking flax He does not quench. He brings forth Right-Ruling in accordance with truth.

4 “He does not become weak or crushed, until He has established Right-Ruling in the earth. And the coastlands wait for His Torah.”

5 Thus said the Ĕl, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, who created the shamayim and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it:

6 “I, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, have called You in righteousness, and I take hold of Your hand and guard You, and give You for a Covenant to a people, for a Light to the gentiles,

7 to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

8 “I am 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another, nor My praise to idols.

9 “See, the former have come, and new ones I am declaring; before they spring forth I let you hear them.”

10 Sing to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 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 coastlands and you inhabitants of them!

11 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages where Qĕḏar dwells. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give esteem to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, and declare His praise in the coastlands.

13 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 goes forth like a mighty man. He stirs up ardour like a fighter. He cries out, also shouts aloud. Over His enemies He shows Himself mighty.

14 “I have kept silent from of old, I have been still and held Myself back. Like a woman in labour I cry out, I pant and gasp at once.

15 “I lay waste mountains and hills, and I dry up all their plants. And I shall make rivers become coastlands, and I dry up pools.

16 “And I shall lead the blind by a way they have not known – in paths they have not known I lead them. I make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These matters I shall do for them, and I shall not forsake them.

17 “Those who trust in idols, who say to the moulded images, ‘You are our mighty ones,’ shall be turned back, utterly ashamed.

18 “Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, and see.

19 “Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is at peace, and blind as servant of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄?

20 “You see much, but do not observe; ears are open, but do not hear.”

21 It has delighted 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, for the sake of His righteousness, to make the Torah great and esteemed.

22 But this is a people robbed and plundered, all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses. They have become a prey, with no one to deliver – for plunder, and no one to say, “Restore!”

23 Who among you gives ear to this, pays attention and hears for the time to come?

24 Who gave Ya’aqoḇ for plunder, and Yisra’ĕl to the robbers? Was it not 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, He against whom we sinned? For they would not walk in His Ways, and they did not obey His Torah!

25 So He has poured on him His burning displeasure and the strength of battle, and it lit him on fire all around, yet he did not understand. And it burned against him, yet he did not take it to heart!