1Look at my servant, whom I hold up; my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring judgment to the Gentiles.
2He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor make himself heard in the street.
3He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoking wick. He will bring judgment out into truth.
4He will not fail, and he will not be discouraged, until he has set judgment in the earth. The islands will wait for his law.
5This is what God the LORD says, the one who made the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk in it:
6"I the LORD have called you in righteousness. I will hold your hand, and I will keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, and as a light for the Gentiles,"
7"to open blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the prison, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house."
8"I am the LORD. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to carved images."
9"Look, the earlier things have happened, and now I tell of new things. Before they spring up, I tell you about them."
10Sing a new song to the LORD, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, the islands, and those who live in them.
11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages where Kedar lives. Let those who live in the rock sing, let them shout from the mountain tops.
12Let them give glory to the LORD, and tell of his praise in the islands.
13The LORD will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up jealousy like a man of war. He will shout, yes, roar; he will win against his enemies.
14"For a long time I have kept quiet. I have been still and have held myself back. Now I will cry out like a woman in labour. I will destroy and swallow up all at once."
15"I will lay mountains and hills waste, and dry up all their plants. I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools."
16"I will bring the blind along a way they did not know. I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will turn the darkness in front of them into light, and make crooked things straight. These are the things I will do for them, and I will not leave them."
17They will be turned back, they will be deeply ashamed, those who trust in carved images, who say to metal images, "You are our gods."
18Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, so that you may see.
19Who is blind, but my servant? Or deaf, like my messenger whom I sent? Who is blind like the one who is perfect, and blind like the LORD's servant?
20You see many things, but you do not take notice. His ears are open, but he does not hear.
21The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake. He will make the law great, and give it honour.
22But this is a people robbed and stripped bare. They are all of them trapped in holes, and hidden away in prison houses. They are taken as prey, and no one rescues them; they are taken as loot, and no one says, "Give it back."
23Who among you will listen to this? Who will pay attention and hear for the time to come?
24Who gave Jacob up as loot, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they were not obedient to his law.
25So he has poured out on him the fury of his anger, and the force of battle. It set him on fire all around, yet he did not understand; it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart.