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Isaiah 42

Isaiah 42 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Isaiah 42 introduces God's Servant, chosen and empowered to bring justice to the nations with gentleness and steady faithfulness. The chapter also calls the world to praise the LORD, warns against idols, and confronts Israel's deafness and blindness to God's voice and ways.

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What happens in Isaiah 42?

The chapter opens with a picture of the LORD's Servant, upheld and filled with the Spirit to establish justice without harshness. He brings hope, freedom, and light to those in darkness, and God declares that this work will display His own glory, not that of idols. The tone then turns into a worldwide call for praise as the LORD acts with power and guides the blind. The final section rebukes Israel for spiritual deafness and blindness, showing that their suffering grew out of disobedience and refusal to listen.

Isaiah 42 continues the prophet's message of God's care for His people and His rule over the nations. It follows words of comfort and challenge in chapter 41 and begins a strong servant theme that carries through the book. The chapter moves from promise to warning, showing both God's saving purpose and the failure of His people to respond rightly.

Themes to notice

  • The Servant of the LORDGod appoints His Servant to bring justice, hope, and healing with faithfulness and humility.
  • Light and FreedomThe LORD opens eyes, leads the blind, and brings people out of darkness and captivity.
  • Spiritual DeafnessIsrael is warned that hearing God's words is not enough if they refuse to obey them.

Questions for Isaiah 42

  • What do the servant's actions show about how God brings justice to the world?
  • Why does the chapter connect praise for God with His power to guide and rescue?
  • In what ways does Israel's deafness and blindness describe a heart problem, not just a physical one?

Read the full text of Isaiah 42 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Isaiah 42

Here Is My Servant

1“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold,

My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights.

I will put My Spirit on Him,

and He will bring justice to the nations.

2He will not cry out or raise His voice,

nor make His voice heard in the streets.

3A bruised reed He will not break

and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

4He will not grow weak or discouraged

before He has established justice on the earth.

In His law the islands will put their hope.”

5This is what God the LORD says—

He who created the heavens

and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and its offspring,

who gives breath to the people on it

and life to those who walk in it:

6“I, the LORD, have called you

for a righteous purpose,

and I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and appoint you

to be a covenant for the people

and a light to the nations,

7to open the eyes of the blind,

to bring prisoners out of the dungeon

and those sitting in darkness

out from the prison house.

8I am the LORD;

that is My name!

I will not yield My glory to another

or My praise to idols.

9Behold, the former things have happened,

and now I declare new things.

Before they spring forth

I proclaim them to you.”

A New Song of Praise

10Sing to the LORD a new song—

His praise from the ends of the earth—

you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,

you islands, and all who dwell in them.

11Let the desert and its cities raise their voices;

let the villages of Kedar cry aloud.

Let the people of Sela sing for joy;

let them cry out from the mountaintops.

12Let them give glory to the LORD

and declare His praise in the islands.

13The LORD goes forth like a mighty one;

He stirs up His zeal like a warrior.

He shouts; yes, He roars

in triumph over His enemies:

14“I have kept silent from ages past;

I have remained quiet and restrained.

But now I will groan like a woman in labor;

I will at once gasp and pant.

15I will lay waste the mountains and hills

and dry up all their vegetation.

I will turn the rivers into dry land

and drain the marshes.

16I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;

I will guide them on unfamiliar paths.

I will turn darkness into light before them

and rough places into level ground.

These things I will do for them,

and I will not forsake them.

17But those who trust in idols

and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’

will be turned back in utter shame.

Israel Is Deaf and Blind

18Listen, you deaf ones;

look, you blind ones, that you may see!

19Who is blind but My servant,

or deaf like the messenger I am sending?

Who is blind like My covenant partner,

or blind like the servant of the LORD?

20Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch.

Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”

21The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness,

to magnify His law and make it glorious.

22But this is a people plundered and looted,

all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons.

They have become plunder with no one to rescue them,

and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”

23Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen and obey hereafter?

24Who gave Jacob up for spoil,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the LORD,

against whom we have sinned?

They were unwilling to walk in His ways,

and they would not obey His law.

25So He poured out on them His furious anger

and the fierceness of battle.

It enveloped them in flames,

but they did not understand;

it consumed them,

but they did not take it to heart.

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