42:1 ¹ 

“Here is my servant whom I support,

my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.

I have placed my spirit on him;

he will make just decrees ²  for the nations. ³ 

42:2 He will not cry out or shout;

he will not publicize himself in the streets. ⁴ 

42:3 A crushed reed he will not break,

a dim wick he will not extinguish; ⁵ 

he will faithfully make just decrees. ⁶ 

42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed ⁷ 

before establishing justice on the earth;

the coastlands ⁸  will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” ⁹ 

42:5 This is what the true God, ¹⁰  the Lord, says –

the one who created the sky and stretched it out,

the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, ¹¹ 

the one who gives breath to the people on it,

and life to those who live on it: ¹² 

42:6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; ¹³ 

I take hold of your hand.

I protect you ¹⁴  and make you a covenant mediator for people, ¹⁵ 

and a light ¹⁶  to the nations, ¹⁷ 

42:7 to open blind eyes, ¹⁸ 

to release prisoners ¹⁹  from dungeons,

those who live in darkness from prisons.

42:8 I am the Lord! That is my name!

I will not share my glory with anyone else,

or the praise due me with idols.

42:9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; ²⁰ 

now I announce new events.

Before they begin to occur,

I reveal them to you.” ²¹ 

42:10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!

Praise him ²²  from the horizon of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, ²³ 

you coastlands ²⁴  and those who live there!

42:11 Let the desert and its cities shout out,

the towns where the nomads of Kedar live!

Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully;

let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

42:12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves; ²⁵ 

let them praise his deeds in the coastlands. ²⁶ 

42:13 The Lord emerges like a hero,

like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; ²⁷ 

he shouts, yes, he yells,

he shows his enemies his power. ²⁸ 

42:14 “I have been inactive ²⁹  for a long time;

I kept quiet and held back.

Like a woman in labor I groan;

I pant and gasp. ³⁰ 

42:15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; ³¹ 

I will dry up all their vegetation.

I will turn streams into islands, ³² 

and dry up pools of water. ³³ 

42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; ³⁴ 

I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. ³⁵ 

I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,

and level out the rough ground. ³⁶ 

This is what I will do for them.

I will not abandon them.

42:17 Those who trust in idols

will turn back and be utterly humiliated, ³⁷ 

those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’”

42:18 “Listen, you deaf ones!

Take notice, ³⁸  you blind ones!

42:19 My servant is truly blind,

my messenger is truly deaf.

My covenant partner, ³⁹  the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. ⁴⁰ 

42:20 You see ⁴¹  many things, but don’t comprehend; ⁴² 

their ears are open, but do not hear.”

42:21 The Lord wanted to exhibit his justice

by magnifying his law and displaying it. ⁴³ 

42:22 But these people are looted and plundered;

all of them are trapped in pits ⁴⁴ 

and held captive ⁴⁵  in prisons.

They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them;

they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!” ⁴⁶ 

42:23 Who among you will pay attention to this?

Who will listen attentively in the future? ⁴⁷ 

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ⁴⁸ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ⁴⁹ 

42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,

along with the devastation ⁵⁰  of war.

Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; ⁵¹ 

it burned against them, but they did notice. ⁵² 

1:1 In the beginning ¹  God ²  created ³  the heavens and the earth. ⁴ 

1:2 Now ⁵  the earth ⁶  was without shape and empty, ⁷  and darkness ⁸  was over the surface of the watery deep, ⁹  but the Spirit of God ¹⁰  was moving ¹¹  over the surface ¹²  of the water. ¹³  1:3 God said, ¹⁴  “Let there be ¹⁵  light.” ¹⁶  And there was light! 1:4 God saw ¹⁷  that the light was good, ¹⁸  so God separated ¹⁹  the light from the darkness. 1:5 God called ²⁰  the light “day” and the darkness ²¹  “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. ²² 

1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse ²³  in the midst of the waters and let it separate water ²⁴  from water. 1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. ²⁵  It was so. ²⁶  1:8 God called the expanse “sky.” ²⁷  There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place ²⁸  and let dry ground appear.” ²⁹  It was so. 1:10 God called the dry ground “land” ³⁰  and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.

1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: ³¹  plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, ³²  and ³³  trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. 1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 1:13 There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights ³⁴  in the expanse ³⁵  of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs ³⁶  to indicate seasons and days and years, 1:15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 1:16 God made two great lights ³⁷  – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. ³⁸  1:17 God placed the lights ³⁹  in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, 1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. ⁴⁰  God saw that it was good. 1:19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

1:20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms ⁴¹  of living creatures and let birds fly ⁴²  above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 1:21 God created the great sea creatures ⁴³  and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. 1:22 God blessed them ⁴⁴  and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” ⁴⁵  1:23 There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

1:24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” ⁴⁶  It was so. 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

1:26 Then God said, “Let us make ⁴⁷ 

humankind ⁴⁸  in our image, after our likeness, ⁴⁹  so they may rule ⁵⁰  over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, ⁵¹  and over all the creatures that move ⁵²  on the earth.”

1:27 God created humankind ⁵³  in his own image,

in the image of God he created them, ⁵⁴ 

male and female he created them. ⁵⁵ 

1:28 God blessed ⁵⁶  them and said ⁵⁷  to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! ⁵⁸  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” ⁵⁹  1:29 Then God said, “I now ⁶⁰  give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ⁶¹  1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give ⁶²  every green plant for food.” It was so.

1:31 God saw all that he had made – and it was very good! ⁶³  There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.