Isaiah 42:1-9

The Voice

42 Eternal One: Look here, let Me present My servant;
I have taken hold of him. He is My chosen, and I delight in him.
I have put My Spirit on him; by this he will bring justice to the nations.

This poem is the first of several Servant Songs. God’s special Servant is described in various ways. In this song (42:1–9), the Servant is portrayed as one who faithfully establishes justice in the world and serves as a light for the nations. In the second song (49:1–13), the Servant is called from the womb and ordained to restore the nation of Israel and take salvation to the ends of the earth. In the third song (50:4–9), the Servant is portrayed as a teacher, intimately in touch with God, yet brutally beaten and disgraced by his enemies. In the fourth song (52:13–53:12), the suffering and rejection of God’s Servant takes priority over his other tasks; yet even in his suffering God is working to repair the world from the harm done by sin and evil.

²Eternal One: He will not scream or yell,
        crying out for all to hear.
³    What is bruised and bent, he will not break;
        he will not blow out a smoldering candle.
    Rather, he will faithfully turn his attention to doing justice.
⁴    And though he faces obstacles, resistance, and great pressure,
        he will not crack; he will not give up until things are set right.
    Even the coastlands wait patiently for his instruction.

⁵God, the Eternal One, who made the starry skies,
stretched them tight above and around;
Who cast the shimmering globe of earth and filled it with life;
who gives breath and animates the people;
Who walks and talks with life-giving spirit has this to say:

⁶Eternal One: I am the Eternal One. By righteousness I have called you.
        I will take you by the hand and keep you safe.
    You are given as a covenant between Me and the people:
        a light for the nations, a shining beacon to the world.
⁷    You will open blind eyes so they will see again.
        You will lead prisoners, blinking, out from caverns of captivity,
        from cells pitch black with despair.
⁸    I am the Eternal One.
        I Am is My name.
        My beauty is unique, a weighty splendor all My own.
    And nothing else—no idols could possibly gain My praise.
⁹    Look here, what’s done is done and gone.
        The now is new, and there’s hope in the not-yet.
    I will tell you what’s to come, even before the events are brand-new.