Isaiah 42

The Lord's Chosen Servant

1 ¹Behold ²my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, ³in whom my soul delights; ⁴I have put my Spirit upon him; ⁵he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;

3 ⁶a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; ⁷he will faithfully bring forth justice.

4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged^[a] till he has established justice in the earth; and ⁸the coastlands wait for his law.

5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens ⁹and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, ¹⁰who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:

6 "I am the LORD; ¹¹I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you ¹²as a covenant for the people, ¹³a light for the nations,

7 ¹⁴to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, ¹⁵from the prison those who sit in darkness.

8 I am the LORD; that is my name; ¹⁶my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, ¹⁷and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."

Sing to the Lord a New Song

10 ¹⁸Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, ¹⁹you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, ²⁰the coastlands and their inhabitants.

11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that ²¹Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of ²²Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in ²³the coastlands.

13 ²⁴The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war ²⁵he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, ²⁶he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.

14 For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out ²⁷like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.

15 ²⁸I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands,^[b] and dry up the pools.

16 ²⁹And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, ³⁰the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

17 ³¹They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, "You are our gods."

Israel's Failure to Hear and See

18 Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!

19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one,^[c] or blind as the servant of the LORD?

20 ³²He sees many things, but does not observe them; ³³his ears are open, but he does not hear.

21 The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes ³⁴and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, "Restore!"

23 Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?

24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?

25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, ³⁵but he did not understand; it burned him up, ³⁶but he did not take it to heart.

Isaiah 42 Commentary

Chapter 42

The character and coming of Christ. (1-4) The blessings of his kingdom. (5-12) The prevalence of true religion. (13-17) Unbelief and blindness reproved. (18-25)

Verses 1-4 This prophecy was fulfilled in Christ, ( Matthew 12:17 ) . Let our souls rely on him, and rejoice in him; then, for his sake, the Father will be well-pleased with us. The Holy Spirit not only came, but rested upon him, and without measure. He patiently bore the contradiction of sinners. His kingdom is spiritual; he was not to appear with earthly honours. He is tender of those oppressed with doubts and fears, as a bruised reed; those who are as smoking flax, as the wick of a lamp newly lighted, which is ready to go out again. He will not despise them, nor lay upon them more work or more suffering than they can bear. By a long course of miracles and his resurrection, he fully showed the truth of his holy religion. By the power of his gospel and grace he fixes principles in the minds of men, which tend to make them wise and just. The most distant nations wait for his law, wait for his gospel, and shall welcome it. If we would make our calling and election sure, and have the Father delight over us for good, we must behold, hear, believe in, and obey Christ.

Verses 5-12 The work of redemption brings back man to the obedience he owes to God as his Maker. Christ is the light of the world. And by his grace he opens the understandings Satan has blinded, and sets at liberty from the bondage of sin. The Lord has supported his church. And now he makes new promises, which shall as certainly be fulfilled as the old ones were. When the Gentiles are brought into the church, he is glorified in them and by them. Let us give to God those things which are his, taking heed that we do not serve the creature more than the Creator.

Verses 13-17 The Lord will appear in his power and glory. He shall cry, in the preaching of his word. He shall cry aloud in the gospel woes, which must be preached with gospel blessings, to awaken a sleeping world. He shall conquer by the power of his Spirit. And those that contradict and blaspheme his gospel, he shall put to silence and shame; and that which hinders its progress shall be taken out of the way. To those who by nature were blind, God will show the way to life and happiness by Jesus Christ. They are weak in knowledge, but He will make darkness light. They are weak in duty, but their way shall be plain. Those whom God brings into the right way, he will guide in it. This passage is a prophecy, and is also applicable to every believer; for the Lord will never leave nor forsake them.

Verses 18-25 Observe the call given to this people, and the character given of them. Multitudes are ruined for want of observing that which they cannot but see; they perish, not through ignorance, but carelessness. The Lord is well-pleased in the making known his own righteousness. For their sins they were spoiled of all their possessions. This fully came to pass in the destruction of the Jewish nation. There is no resisting, nor escaping God's anger. See the mischief sin makes; it provokes God to anger. And those not humbled by lesser judgments, must expect greater. Alas! how many professed Christians are blind as the benighted heathen! While the Lord is well-pleased in saving sinners through the righteousness of Christ he will also glorify his justice, by punishing all proud despisers. Seeing God has poured out his wrath on his once-favoured people, because of their sins, let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should be found to come short of it.

Cross References

• 1. Cited Matthew 12:18-20
• 2. Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53:11; [ver. 19; Ezekiel 34:24; Zechariah 3:8; Acts 3:26; Acts 4:27; Philippians 2:7]
• 3. Matthew 3:17
• 4. Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 61:1
• 5. [Isaiah 2:4]
• 6. [Isaiah 57:15]
• 7. Psalms 9:8
• 8. Isaiah 60:9; Genesis 10:5; [Isaiah 2:3; Matthew 12:21]
• 9. Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 45:12
• 10. Acts 17:25
• 11. Isaiah 41:9
• 12. Isaiah 49:6, 8
• 13. Luke 2:32
• 14. Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 49:9; Isaiah 61:1; Hebrews 2:14, 15
• 15. Luke 1:79
• 16. Isaiah 48:11
• 17. [Isaiah 43:19]
• 18. See Psalms 33:3
• 19. Psalms 107:23
• 20. [See ver. 4 above]
• 21. See Isaiah 21:16
• 22. Isaiah 16:1
• 23. [See ver. 4 above]
• 24. Isaiah 40:10
• 25. [Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 59:17]
• 26. Psalms 78:65
• 27. See Isaiah 13:8
• 28. Isaiah 50:2
• 29. Isaiah 35:5, 8
• 30. Isaiah 40:4
• 31. Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 44:11; Isaiah 45:16; Psalms 97:7
• 32. See Romans 2:21-23
• 33. [Jeremiah 6:10]
• 34. Isaiah 14:17
• 35. [Isaiah 47:11; Hosea 7:9]
• 36. Isaiah 57:1, 11

Footnotes

• [a]. Or bruised
• [b]. Or into coastlands
• [c]. Or as the one at peace with me

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 42

This chapter begins with a prophecy concerning the Messiah, under the character of the servant of the Lord, and his elect, whom he supported, and was well pleased with; whose work is pointed at, and for which he was well qualified with the Spirit without measure, Isa 42:1 and is described by his humility and meekness, Isa 42:2, by his tenderness to weak and ignorant persons, Isa 42:3 and by his courage and resolution, Isa 42:4 then follow his call to his work, and the several parts of it, introduced with setting forth the greatness of God that called him, as the Creator of the heavens and of the earth, and of men upon it, Isa 42:5-7, whose name is Jehovah, and whose glory is incommunicable to a creature, and whose knowledge reaches to future things, which are predicted by him, Isa 42:8,9, and then Gentiles are called upon to praise the Lord, and give glory to him, partly for the above promises concerning the Messiah, Isa 42:10-12, and partly for the destruction of his enemies, Isa 42:13-15, and also for his gracious regard to such who had been blind and ignorant, Isa 42:16, the confusion of idolaters is prophesied of, and an exhortation is given them to make use of the means of light and knowledge, Isa 42:17,18, and the blindness, ignorance, and stupidity of the Jews, are exposed, though there was a remnant among them with whom the Lord was well pleased, for the sake of the righteousness of his Son, Isa 42:19-21, but as for the body of the people, they were to be given up to the spoilers and robbers for their sins and disobedience, and be the butt of the divine wrath and vengeance, Isa 42:22-24.