1Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights! I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2He will not cry out, nor lift up his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street.
3A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish; in faithfulness he will bring forth justice.
4He will not grow dim nor be crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his instruction.
5Thus says God, Yahweh, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:
6I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand and keep you, and I will make you a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
7to open blind eyes, to bring out the prisoner from the dungeon, from the prison house those who dwell in darkness.
8I am Yahweh; that is my name. And my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to idols.
9Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I announce them to you.
10Sing to Yahweh a new song, his praise from the end of the earth—you who go down to the sea and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the settlements where Kedar dwells; let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12Let them give glory to Yahweh, and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13Yahweh goes out like a warrior, like a man of battles he stirs up his zeal; he raises a war cry, indeed he shouts aloud; against his enemies he shows himself mighty.
14I have kept silent from of old, I keep still, I restrain myself; now like a woman in labor I cry out, I gasp and pant all at once.
15I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into coastlands and dry up the pools.
16And I will lead the blind by a way they did not know, in paths they did not know I will guide them; I will turn the darkness before them into light, and the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.
17They shall be turned back, utterly put to shame—those who trust in an idol, who say to a molten image, ‘You are our gods.’
18You deaf ones, hear! And you blind ones, look, that you may see!
19Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like the one at peace with me, and blind like the servant of Yahweh?
20You have seen many things, but do not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.
21Yahweh was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness, to magnify instruction and make it glorious.
22But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in holes, hidden away in prison houses; they have become plunder with no one to rescue, spoil with no one to say, ‘Give it back.’
23Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?
24Who gave Jacob up to the spoiler, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not Yahweh, against whom we have sinned? They were not willing to walk in his ways, and they did not obey his instruction.
25So he poured out on him the heat of his anger and the fury of battle; it set him ablaze all around, but he did not understand; it burned against him, but he did not take it to heart.
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