Isaiah 41–43: The Trial of the Nations, the Servant, and "You Are Mine
Scripture: Berean Standard Bible
“Be silent before me, O islands,and let the peoples renew their strength.Let them come forward and testify;let us together draw near for judgment.Who has aroused one from the eastand called him to his feet in righteousness?He hands nations over to himand subdues kings before him.He turns them to dust with his sword,to windblown chaff with his bow.He pursues them, going on safely,hardly touching the path with his feet.Who has performed this and carried it out,calling forth the generations from the beginning?I, the LORD—the first and the last—I am he.”
The islands see and fear;the ends of the earth tremble.They approach and come forward.Each one helps the otherand says to his brother, “Be strong!”The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,and he who wields the hammercheers him who strikes the anvil,saying of the welding, “It is good.”He nails it down so it will not be toppled.
“But you, O Israel, my servant,Jacob, whom I have chosen,descendant of Abraham my friend—I brought you from the ends of the earthand called you from its farthest corners.I said, ‘You are my servant.’I have chosen and not rejected you.Do not fear, for I am with you;do not be afraid, for I am your God.I will strengthen you; I will surely help you;I will uphold you with my right hand of righteousness.
Behold, all who rage against youwill be ashamed and disgraced;those who contend with youwill be reduced to nothing and will perish.You will seek them but will not find them.Those who wage war against you will come to nothing.For I am the LORD your God,who takes hold of your right handand tells you: Do not fear,I will help you.Do not fear, O worm of Jacob,O few men of Israel.I will help you,” declares the LORD.“Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge,new and sharp, with many teeth.You will thresh the mountains and crush them,and reduce the hills to chaff.You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away;a gale will scatter them.But you will rejoice in the LORD;you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none;their tongues are parched with thirst.I, the LORD, will answer them;I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.I will open rivers on the barren heights,and fountains in the middle of the valleys.I will turn the desert into a pool of water,and the dry land into flowing springs.I will plant cedars in the wilderness,acacias, myrtles, and olive trees.I will set cypresses in the desert,elms and boxwood together,so that all may see and know,may consider and understand,that the hand of the LORD has done thisand the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
“Present your case,” says the LORD.“Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.“Let them come and tell us what will happen.Tell the former things,so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome.Or announce to us what is coming.Tell us the things that are to come,so that we may know that you are gods.Yes, do something good or evil,that we may look on together in dismay.Behold, you are nothingand your work is of no value.Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on my name.He will march over rulers as if they were mortar,like a potter who treads the clay.Who has declared this from the beginning,so that we may know,and from times past,so that we may say: ‘He was right’?No one announced it, no one foretold it,no one heard your words.
I was the first to tell Zion:‘Look, here they are!’And I gave to Jerusalema herald of good news.When I look, there is no one;there is no counselor among them;when I ask them,they have nothing to say.See, they are all a delusion;their works amount to nothing;their images are as empty as the wind.“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.He will not cry out or raise his voice,nor make his voice heard in the streets.A bruised reed he will not breakand a smoldering wick he will not extinguish;he will faithfully bring forth justice.He will not grow weak or discouragedbefore he has established justice on the earth.In his law the islands will put their hope.”
This is what God the LORD says—he who created the heavensand stretched them out,who spread out the earth and its offspring,who gives breath to the people on itand life to those who walk in it:
“I, the LORD, have called youfor a righteous purpose,and I will take hold of your hand.I will keep you and appoint youto be a covenant for the peopleand a light to the nations,to open the eyes of the blind,to bring prisoners out of the dungeonand those sitting in darknessout from the prison house.
I am the LORD;that is my name!I will not yield my glory to anotheror my praise to idols.Behold, the former things have happened,and now I declare new things.Before they spring forthI proclaim them to you.”
Sing 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.Let 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.Let them give glory to the LORDand declare his praise in the islands.The LORD goes forth like a mighty one;he stirs up his zeal like a warrior.He shouts; yes, he roarsin triumph over his enemies:
“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.I will lay waste the mountains and hillsand dry up all their vegetation.I will turn the rivers into dry landand drain the marshes.I 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 themand rough places into level ground.These things I will do for them,and I will not forsake them.But those who trust in idolsand say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’will be turned back in utter shame.
Listen, you deaf ones;look, you blind ones, that you may see!Who 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?Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch.Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”
The LORD was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness,to magnify his law and make it glorious.But 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!”Who among you will pay attention to this?Who will listen and obey hereafter?Who 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.So he poured out on them his furious angerand 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.Now this is what the LORD says—he who created you, O Jacob,and he who formed you, O Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;I have called you by your name; you are mine!When you pass through the waters,I will be with you;and when you go through the rivers,they will not overwhelm you.When you walk through the fire,you will not be scorched;the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD your God,the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;I give Egypt for your ransom,Cush and Seba in your place.Because you are precious and honored in my sight,and because I love you,I will give men in exchange for youand nations in place of your life.
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;I will bring your offspring from the eastand gather you from the west.I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’Bring my sons from afar,and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone called by my name and created for my glory,whom I have indeed formed and made.”
Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind,and who have ears but are deaf.All the nations gather togetherand the peoples assemble.Who among them can declare this,and proclaim to us the former things?Let them present their witnesses to vindicate them,so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,“and my servant whom I have chosen,so that you may consider and believe meand understand that I am he.Before me no god was formed,and after me none will come.I, yes I, am the LORD,and there is no Savior but me.I alone decreed and saved and proclaimed—I, and not some foreign god among you.So you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,“that I am God.Even from eternity I am he,and none can deliver out of my hand.When I act, who can reverse it?”
Thus says the LORD your Redeemer,the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake, I will send to Babylonand bring them all as fugitives,even the Chaldeans,in the ships in which they rejoice.I am the LORD, your Holy One,the Creator of Israel, and your King.”
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the seaand a path through the surging waters,who brings out the chariots and horses,the armies and warriors together,to lie down, never to rise again;to be extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
“Do not call to mind the former things;pay no attention to the things of old.Behold, I am about to do something new;even now it is coming. Do you not see it?Indeed, I will make a way in the wildernessand streams in the desert.The beasts of the field will honor me,the jackals and the ostriches,because I provide water in the wildernessand rivers in the desert,to give drink to my chosen people.
The people I formed for myselfwill declare my praise.
But you have not called on me, O Jacob,because you have grown weary of me, O Israel.You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings,nor honored me with your sacrifices.I have not burdened you with offerings,nor wearied you with frankincense.You have not bought me sweet cane with your silver,nor satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.But you have burdened me with your sins;you have wearied me with your iniquities.
I, yes I, am hewho blots out your transgressions for my own sakeand remembers your sins no more.Remind me, let us argue the matter together.State your case, so that you may be vindicated.Your first father sinned,and your spokesmen rebelled against me.So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary,and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”