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God's Promise concerning His Servant

¹ "^(C1)Behold, My ^(F1)(C2)Servant, whom I ^(F2)uphold;
My ^(C3)Chosen One in whom My ^(C4)soul delights.
I have put My ^(C5)Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth ^(C6)justice to the nations. ^(VR1)

² "He will not call out or shout aloud,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.

³ "A broken reed He will not break off
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish He will not harm those who are weak and suffering;
He will faithfully bring forth ^(C1)justice. ^(VR1)

⁴ "He will not be ^(C1)disheartened or crushed in spirit;
He will persevere until He has established justice on the earth;
And the ^(C2)coastlands will wait expectantly for His law." ^(VR1)

⁵ This is what God the LORD says,

He who ^(C1)created the heavens and ^(C2)stretched them out,
Who spread out the ^(C3)earth and its produce,
Who ^(C4)gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk on it,

⁶ "I am the LORD, I have ^(C1)called You (the Messiah) in righteousness for a righteous purpose,
I will also ^(C2)take You by the hand and ^(C3)keep watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a ^(C4)covenant to the people Israel,
As a ^(C5)light to the nations (Gentiles),

⁷ To ^(C1)open the eyes of the blind,
To ^(C2)bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who sit in darkness from the prison. ^(VR1)

⁸ "^(C1)I am the LORD, that is ^(C2)My Name;
My ^(C3)glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved idols.

⁹ "Indeed, the ^(C1)former things have come to pass,
Now I declare ^(C2)new things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."

¹⁰ Sing to the LORD a ^(C1)new song,
Sing His praise from the ^(C2)end of the earth!
^(C3)You who go down to the sea, and ^(C4)all that is in it,
You ^(C5)islands and coastlands, and those who inhabit them sing His praise!

¹¹ Let the ^(C1)wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The villages where ^(C2)Kedar lives.
Let the inhabitants of ^(F1)(C3)Sela shout for joy,
Let them shout joyfully from the tops of the ^(C4)mountains.

¹² Let them ^(C1)give glory to the LORD
And declare His praise in the ^(C2)islands and coastlands.

^13 (C1)The LORD will go forth like a warrior,
He will stir up His ^(C2)zeal like a man of war;
He will shout out, yes, He will raise a war cry.
He will ^(C3)prevail mightily against His enemies.

The Blindness of the People

¹⁴ "^(C1)I the LORD have been silent for a long time,
I have been still and restrained Myself.
Now I will moan like a woman in labor,
I will both gasp and pant.

¹⁵ "I will ^(C1)lay waste the mountains and hills
And wither all their vegetation;
I will ^(C2)turn the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the ponds.

¹⁶ "I will ^(C1)lead the blind by a way they do not know;
I will guide them in paths that they do not know.
I will ^(C2)make darkness into light before them
And ^(C3)rugged places into plains.
These things I will do for them,
And I will ^(C4)not leave them abandoned or undone."

¹⁷ Those who trust in carved idols will be turned back,
And ^(C1)utterly put to shame,
Who say to cast images,
"You are our gods."

^18 (C1)Hear, you deaf!
And look, you blind, that you may see.

¹⁹ Who is blind but My ^(C1)servant Israel,
Or deaf like My ^(C2)messenger whom I send?
Who is blind like the one who is ^(C3)at peace with Me in a covenant relationship,
Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?

^20 (C1)You have seen many things, but you do not observe them;
Your ears are open, but no one hears.

²¹ The LORD was pleased for His righteousness' sake
To ^(C1)make the law great and prove to be glorious.

²² But this is a people despoiled and plundered;
All of them are ^(C1)trapped in holes,
Or are ^(C2)hidden away in prisons.
They have become a prey with no one to rescue them,
And a spoil, with no one to say, "Give them back!" ^(VR1)

²³ Who among you will listen to this?
Who will listen and pay attention in the time to come?

²⁴ Who gave up Jacob the kingdom of Judah for spoil, and the kingdom of Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the LORD, He against whom we of Judah have sinned,
And in whose ways they of Israel ^(C1)were unwilling to walk,
And whose law and teaching they did not ^(C2)obey?

²⁵ Therefore He poured out on Israel the heat of His anger
And the ^(C1)fierceness of battle;
And engulfed him in fire,
Yet he did not recognize the lesson of repentance which the Assyrian conquest was intended to teach;
It burned him, but he ^(C2)did not take it to heart.