[1] Behold 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 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 fail or be
discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the
coastlands wait for his law. [5] Thus says God, the LORD, who created the
heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth 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 graven images. [9] Behold, 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 roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their
inhabitants. [11] Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the
villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy, let
them shout from the top 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 mighty man, like a man of war 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 travail, 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] And I will lead the blind
in a way that they know not, in paths that 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, who trust in
graven images, who say to molten images, "You are our gods." [18] Hear, you
deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see! [19] Who is blind but my
servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated
one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? [20] He sees many things, but
does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. [21] The
LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make
it glorious. [22] But this is a people robbed and plundered, they are all
of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey
with none to rescue, a spoil with none to say, "Restore!" [23] Who among
you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?
[24] Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? Was it
not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not
walk, and whose law they would not obey? [25] So he poured upon him the
heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire round about,
but he did not understand; it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.
