Isaiah

First Song of the Servant: Introduction

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring justice to the nations.

He does not shout or raise his voice. Proclamations are not heard in the streets.

A broken reed he will not crush, nor will he snuff out the light of the wavering wick. He will make justice appear in truth.

He will not waver or be broken until he has established justice on earth; the islands are waiting for his law.

Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread the earth and all that comes from it, who gives life and breath to those who walk on it:

I, the Lord, have called you for the sake of justice; I will hold your hand to make you firm; I will make you a Covenant to the people, and as a light to the nations,

to open eyes that do not see, to free captives from prison, to bring out to light those who sit in darkness.

I am the Lord, that is my name, I will not give my glory to another; or my praise to graven images.

See, the former things have come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Hymn

Sing a new song to the Lord; let his praise reach the ends of the earth. Let the sea and all that it holds, let the coastlands and their inhabitants resound with song and praise of him.

Let the wilderness and the cities lift up their voice, together with the villages of Kedar. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, and shout from the top of the mountain.

Let them give glory to the Lord and praise him in the far islands.

The Lord comes like a mighty warrior, he stirs up his fury before the fight. He threatens, he raises the battle cry, and he triumphs over his enemies.

New Salvation

For a long time I have been silent; I have kept still and restrained myself, I moaned like a woman in labor, breathing and panting:

I will lay waste mountains and hills and wither all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into wasteland and dry up the pools.

I will lead the blind by ways which they do not know; along unseen paths, I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them and make the rough ground smooth. These are the things that I will do, and I will not forsake them.

But those who trust in graven images and say to idols: “You are our gods” will be turned back in shame.

Blindness of the People

Listen, O deaf, look, O blind, that you may see!

Who is blind, but my servant, or deaf as the messenger I send? Who is blind but the one I am lifting up? Who is deaf but the servant of the Lord?

You have seen many things without observing; your ears were open but without hearing.

It pleased the Lord, the Just One, that his law receives glory and fame.

But this is a people robbed and plundered, all of them ensnared in pits or languishing in prison. They have become a prey, with no one to rescue them; they have become a spoil, with no one to order: “Send them back!”

Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?

Who handed Jacob to the spoilers 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?

Therefore, he poured out on them the fury of his anger— the violence of war. It blazed round about them, and they failed to know what it meant; it burned and consumed them, and they remained in bewilderment.