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Isaiah 42

Isaiah 42 sets the servant’s promised justice beside God’s care for the blind and his judgment on unheeding Israel.

YHWH presents his Spirit-endowed servant, who will establish justice among the nations without crushing the weak. Through Isaiah, God addresses the servant and promises to make him a covenant for the people and a light for the nations. A call for worldwide praise follows, then images of God going to battle and leading the blind. The closing address confronts Israel as a blind and deaf servant, plundered because of disobedience and still failing to understand.

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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.
2He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.
3He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.
4He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice on the earth, and the islands wait for his law.”
5God the LORD, 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 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,
7to 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 will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.
9Behold, the former things have happened and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”
10Sing to the LORD 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.
11Let 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!
12Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
13The LORD 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 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.
15I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
16I 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“Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed.
18“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.
19Who 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 the LORD’s servant?
20You see many things, but don’t observe. His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.
21It pleased the LORD, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law and make it honorable.
22But 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!’
23Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
24Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.
25Therefore 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.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Isaiah 42:1God’s delight, support, and Spirit equip the servant for a mission of justice that reaches the nations.
Isaiah 42:16Amid images of judgment, God promises to guide the blind through unknown paths and refuses to forsake them.
Isaiah 42:6The Creator pledges to uphold his servant and make him a covenant for the people and light for the nations.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew quotes the opening servant prophecy and identifies its fulfillment in Jesus, including his gentleness toward the weak and his mission to the nations. Luke shares the image of light reaching the nations in its account of Simeon’s words about Jesus.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does the servant’s treatment of the bruised reed shape your understanding of justice?

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What stands out when you compare God’s promise to guide the blind with Israel’s refusal to listen?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 42

Who is the servant in Isaiah 42?

The opening servant is chosen and upheld by God, receives his Spirit, and brings justice to the nations. Isaiah 42 does not name him there; Matthew identifies this prophecy’s fulfillment in Jesus. Later in the chapter, the blind and deaf servant is Israel, whose disobedience has brought judgment.

What does the bruised reed mean in Isaiah 42:3?

A bruised reed is a damaged stalk that could break with little force. Paired with a dimly burning wick, it pictures weakness and vulnerability. The servant will neither break the reed nor extinguish the wick. His gentleness belongs alongside his firm resolve to establish justice throughout the earth.

Why is Israel called blind and deaf in Isaiah 42?

The closing verses describe a people who have seen much yet fail to observe, and have open ears yet fail to listen. Their blindness and deafness concern their response to God. The chapter connects Israel’s plundering with disobedience to his law and says they still have not taken his judgment to heart.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).