The Lord's Chosen Servant
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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.
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He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;
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6a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; 7he will faithfully bring forth justice.
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He will not grow faint or be discourageda till he has established justice in the earth; and 8the coastlands wait for his law.
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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:
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"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,
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14to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, 15from the prison those who sit in darkness.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
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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?
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The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.
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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!"
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Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come?
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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?
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)