Isaiah · 25 verses
Isaiah 42
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The servant sent to open blind eyes is then asked who is blind—before being accused of seeing without watching.
A servant who does not break the bruisedvv. 1–9
The LORD delights in His Servant, puts His Spirit on Him, and appoints Him to bring justice to the nations. The work is quiet rather than theatrical: no shouting in the streets, no breaking of a bruised reed, no snuffing out of a smoldering wick. Yet the same Servant is given a very large commission—to be a covenant for the people, a light to the nations, and a guide for prisoners and those in darkness. The LORD, who made heaven and earth and gives breath to its inhabitants, announces new things before they spring forth.
The warrior, the laboring woman, and the new songvv. 10–17
The whole landscape is summoned into song: the sea, the islands, the desert cities, Kedar, Sela, and the mountaintops. Then the LORD goes out like a warrior, roaring over His enemies, only to describe His next movement with the groans, gasps, and panting of a woman in labor. Mountains are laid waste, rivers dried, and unfamiliar paths made level for the blind. The idol-worshippers, meanwhile, are sent back in utter shame; it is a brisk end to a rather poor investment.
The servant who sees but does not watchvv. 18–25
The chapter turns its questions upon the servant and the covenant partner: who is blind, who is deaf, who has open ears but does not hear? The LORD has magnified His law, yet the people are described as plunder and loot, trapped in caves and dungeons, with nobody calling for their return. Israel was given up because it would not walk in the LORD’s ways or obey His law. Fire and the fierceness of battle enveloped the people, but even that did not make them understand or take it to heart.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Isa 42:1“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.
Isa 42:2He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.
Isa 42:3A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
Isa 42:4He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
Isa 42:5This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:
Isa 42:6“I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations,
Isa 42:7to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
Isa 42:8I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.
Isa 42:9Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”
Isa 42:10Sing 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.
Isa 42:11Let 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.
Isa 42:12Let them give glory to the LORD and declare His praise in the islands.
Isa 42:13The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies:
Isa 42:14“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.
Isa 42:15I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.
Isa 42:16I 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 them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.
Isa 42:17But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.
Isa 42:18Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!
Isa 42:19Who 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?
Isa 42:20Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”
Isa 42:21The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
Isa 42:22But 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!”
Isa 42:23Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter?
Isa 42:24Who 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.
Isa 42:25So He poured out on them His furious anger and 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.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 480 passages were voted onto 25 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 5Isaiah 40:22He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
- 5Isaiah 45:12It is I who made the earth and created man upon it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I ordained all their host.
- 1Matthew 12:18–21“Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
- 8Isaiah 48:11For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.
- 5Jeremiah 10:12The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- 5Zechariah 12:1This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:
- 5Isaiah 48:13Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
- 6John 8:12Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- 5Psalms 104:2–35He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
- 6Luke 2:32a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”
- 1Luke 3:22and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
- 16Isaiah 30:21And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
- 8Isaiah 43:11I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.
- 9Isaiah 43:19Behold, 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 wilderness and streams in the desert.
- 6Isaiah 26:3You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- 8Exodus 34:14For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
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