Isaiah 42
Introduction
Isaiah 42 opens with the first of the four "Servant Songs" (vv. 1--9) that shape the second half of the book (see also Isaiah 49:1-6, Isaiah 50:4-9, and Isaiah 52:13--Isaiah 53:12). In this opening song, God introduces his chosen Servant who will bring justice to the nations -- not through force or spectacle, but through quiet faithfulness and gentle strength. The identity of this Servant has been debated for millennia: Is he Israel as a nation? A remnant within Israel? The prophet himself? Or a future messianic figure? The New Testament writers saw its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 12:18-21), and this identification has shaped the Christian reading of the passage ever since.
The chapter moves in two further shifts. Verses 10--17 erupt in a hymn of praise calling all creation to celebrate God's coming intervention -- his warrior-like advance against the enemies of his people, combined with tender guidance of the blind along unknown paths. Then the final section (vv. 18--25) delivers a stinging rebuke: Israel herself is blind and deaf, the very servant who was supposed to carry light to the nations. The contrast between the ideal Servant of vv. 1--9 and the failed servant of vv. 18--25 is deliberate and stark, setting up the tension that will drive Isaiah's theology forward to its resolution in the suffering Servant of chapter 53.
The First Servant Song (vv. 1--4)
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.
2 He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets. 3 A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope."
1 "Look, my Servant whom I sustain, my chosen one in whom my soul takes pleasure. I have placed my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry out or raise his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street. 3 A crushed reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not extinguish; in faithfulness he will bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for his instruction."
Notes
The opening word הֵן ("Look!" or "Behold!") is a particle of presentation -- God is formally introducing his Servant to the heavenly court and to Israel. The word עַבְדִּי ("my servant") is a title of honor in the Old Testament, used of Moses (Numbers 12:7), David (2 Samuel 7:5), and Israel collectively (Isaiah 41:8). Here God says he אֶתְמָךְ ("sustains" or "upholds") this Servant -- the verb implies firm, steady support, the kind given to someone who might otherwise fall.
The phrase בְּחִירִי ("my chosen one") and רָצְתָה נַפְשִׁי ("my soul takes pleasure") echo the language of election and delight. God's Spirit (רוּחִי) is placed upon the Servant for a specific mission: to מִשְׁפָּט לַגּוֹיִם יוֹצִיא ("bring forth justice to the nations"). The word מִשְׁפָּט ("justice") appears three times in vv. 1--4, making it the keynote of the song. This is not merely legal judgment but the establishment of God's right order over the entire world.
Verses 2--3 describe the Servant's method, which is the opposite of military conquest or political coercion. He will not יִצְעַק ("cry out") -- the word used for a war cry or public agitation. His approach is gentle: the קָנֶה רָצוּץ ("crushed reed") and the פִשְׁתָּה כֵהָה ("faintly burning wick" or "dimly glowing flax") represent things that are nearly broken and nearly extinguished -- the weak, the marginal, the barely surviving. The Servant will not trample them in his pursuit of justice but will tenderly preserve them. The phrase לֶאֱמֶת ("in faithfulness" or "according to truth") indicates that his justice is not softened into permissiveness; it is both gentle and true.
Verse 4 contains a wordplay. The Servant himself will not יִכְהֶה ("grow dim" or "grow faint") -- the same root used for the "dimly burning" wick in v. 3 -- and will not יָרוּץ ("be crushed") -- the same root used for the "crushed" reed. The Servant shares the condition of those he serves -- he could burn out, he could be broken -- but he will not, until justice is established in the earth. The אִיִּים ("islands" or "coastlands") represent the distant nations at the edges of the known world. Even they will wait for his תּוֹרָה ("instruction" or "law"), a word that here means authoritative teaching rather than the Mosaic law specifically.
Interpretations
The identity of the Servant in this first Servant Song is a debated question in biblical theology:
Corporate Israel reading (traditional Jewish interpretation and some critical scholars): The Servant is the nation of Israel, or an idealized remnant within it, called to be a light to the nations. This reading draws support from Isaiah 41:8-9 where God explicitly calls Israel "my servant." The gentleness described in vv. 2--3 would characterize how Israel was to exercise its vocation among the nations -- not through force but through faithful witness.
Individual messianic reading (dominant in Christian tradition): The Servant is a future individual -- the Messiah -- distinct from Israel. The New Testament identifies Jesus as this Servant in Matthew 12:18-21, where Matthew quotes vv. 1--4 at length as fulfilled in Jesus' healing ministry and his command not to publicize his miracles. The description of the Servant's gentleness, Spirit-anointing, and universal mission all find specific correspondence in the Gospel accounts. The early church consistently read all four Servant Songs as messianic prophecy.
Royal/prophetic figure reading (some critical scholars): The Servant is a specific historical figure -- perhaps Cyrus (cf. Isaiah 45:1), or the prophet Isaiah himself, or an idealized Davidic king. On this view, the language of Spirit-endowment and justice-bringing echoes the royal ideology of the Davidic line (Isaiah 11:1-5).
Progressive fulfillment reading (common in evangelical scholarship): The Servant figure operates at multiple levels -- Israel was called to this vocation but failed (as vv. 18--25 make clear), and the vocation was ultimately fulfilled by Christ as the true Israel. This reading holds together the corporate and individual dimensions rather than choosing between them.
The Servant's Commission (vv. 5--9)
5 This 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:
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, 7 to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
8 I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. 9 Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."
5 Thus says the God, the LORD -- who created the heavens and stretched them out, who hammered flat the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk on it:
6 "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness, and I will grasp your hand. I will guard you and give you as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations, 7 to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison house those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the LORD -- that is my name! My glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images. 9 The former things -- look, they have come to pass, and new things I am declaring. Before they spring up, I announce them to you."
Notes
Verse 5 grounds the Servant's commission in the authority of God as Creator. The verbs pile up to emphasize God's sovereign power: בּוֹרֵא ("creating"), נוֹטֵיהֶם ("stretching out"), רֹקַע ("hammering flat" -- the same verb used for hammering out metal sheets). The God who commissions the Servant is the God who made everything. The word נְשָׁמָה ("breath") recalls Genesis 2:7, where God breathed the breath of life into Adam. The parallel term רוּחַ ("spirit") broadens the point: all life depends on this God.
In verse 6, God addresses the Servant directly with two designations. First, the Servant will be לִבְרִית עָם ("a covenant for the people") -- not merely a covenant mediator but the covenant itself embodied in a person. Second, he will be לְאוֹר גּוֹיִם ("a light to the nations"). This phrase will recur in Isaiah 49:6 and became foundational for understanding Christ's mission to the Gentiles (Luke 2:32, Acts 13:47). The Servant's vocation is not limited to Israel but extends to all peoples.
Verse 7 specifies the Servant's work in terms of liberation: opening עֵינַיִם עִוְרוֹת ("blind eyes"), releasing אַסִּיר ("prisoners") from מַסְגֵּר ("confinement"), and bringing out those who sit in חֹשֶׁךְ ("darkness"). These images operate on both a literal and spiritual level. In the immediate historical context, they may refer to the release of exiles from Babylon. In the broader theological trajectory, they describe the liberation from spiritual blindness and bondage that the prophets associate with the messianic age (Isaiah 35:5, Isaiah 61:1).
Verse 8 is an assertion of exclusive monotheism. God's שְׁמִי ("name") -- representing his character, authority, and reputation -- is uniquely his. He will not share his כָּבוֹד ("glory") with אַחֵר ("another") or his תְּהִלָּה ("praise") with פְּסִילִים ("carved images"). This polemic against idolatry is central to Isaiah 40--48, where the incomparability of God over against Babylonian idols is a recurring theme.
Verse 9 introduces the key distinction between הָרִאשֹׁנוֹת ("the former things") and חֲדָשׁוֹת ("new things"). The former things -- likely earlier prophecies that have already been fulfilled -- serve as credentials for the new things God is about to do. God's ability to announce the future before it happens (בְּטֶרֶם תִּצְמַחְנָה -- "before they spring up") distinguishes him from all false gods and demonstrates his sovereign control over history.
A New Song of Victory (vv. 10--13)
10 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.
11 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. 12 Let them give glory to the LORD and declare His praise in the islands.
13 The 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.
10 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth -- you who go down to the sea and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the wilderness and its towns lift their voice, the encampments where Kedar dwells. Let the inhabitants of Sela shout for joy; let them cry out from the tops of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the LORD and declare his praise in the coastlands.
13 The LORD goes out like a warrior; like a man of war he stirs up his fury. He raises a battle cry -- yes, he shouts aloud; over his enemies he shows himself mighty.
Notes
This hymn of praise responds to the Servant's commission with a summons to universal worship, recalling the language of Psalm 96:1 and Psalm 98:1. The שִׁיר חָדָשׁ ("new song") is prompted by the "new things" God has just announced (v. 9). The scope is global: from the sea to the desert, from the coastlands to the mountaintops.
The geographical references in v. 11 are specific. קֵדָר was an Arabian tribe descended from Ishmael (Genesis 25:13), representing the nomadic peoples of the eastern desert. סֶלַע ("rock") likely refers to the rocky stronghold of Edom (possibly Petra), representing the peoples of the south. Together with the אִיִּים ("coastlands" or "islands") to the west, they encompass the entire known world surrounding Israel. Even peoples traditionally hostile to Israel are called to join in praise.
Verse 13 shifts the tone dramatically. God is now depicted as כַּגִּבּוֹר ("like a warrior") and כְּאִישׁ מִלְחָמוֹת ("like a man of wars"). He יָעִיר קִנְאָה ("stirs up his zeal" or "rouses his jealous fury") -- the word קִנְאָה denotes passionate, jealous love that will not tolerate rivals. This is the same God who described his Servant's mission in terms of gentleness (vv. 2--3); now he himself takes up the fight with a war cry (יָרִיעַ) and a roar (יַצְרִיחַ). The contrast is deliberate: the Servant works with quiet faithfulness, while God himself fights with overwhelming power on the Servant's behalf.
God Breaks His Silence (vv. 14--17)
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.
15 I 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.
16 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 them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.
17 But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, 'You are our gods!' will be turned back in utter shame."
14 "I have been silent for a long time; I have kept still and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant together.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into coastlands and dry up the pools.
16 And I will lead the blind by a road they do not know; along paths they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, and the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I will not forsake them.
17 They will be turned back and utterly put to shame -- those who trust in carved images, who say to cast metal, 'You are our gods.'"
Notes
Verse 14 contains a striking image of God. After a long period of silence -- הֶחֱשֵׁיתִי מֵעוֹלָם ("I have been silent for ages") -- God now breaks forth with the cry of a woman in labor (כַּיּוֹלֵדָה). The verbs אֶפְעֶה ("I will cry out"), אֶשֹּׁם ("I will gasp"), and וְאֶשְׁאַף ("I will pant") are visceral and intense. God's long restraint has not been indifference but patient endurance, and when he finally acts, it is with the agonizing urgency of birth -- something new is being brought into the world.
Verse 15 describes the cosmic upheaval that accompanies God's intervention. Mountains laid waste, vegetation dried up, rivers turned to dry land -- this is the language of theophany, God's appearance in power that reshapes the natural world (cf. Psalm 18:7-15, Habakkuk 3:6). The word אוֹבִישׁ ("I will dry up") appears twice, emphasizing the totality of the transformation.
Verse 16 is the theological heart of this section. The עִוְרִים ("blind") whom God will lead echo both the Servant's mission to open blind eyes (v. 7) and the indictment of blind Israel that follows in vv. 18--19. God promises to guide them on דֶּרֶךְ לֹא יָדָעוּ ("a road they do not know") -- unfamiliar paths that require trust. He will transform מַחְשָׁךְ ("darkness") into אוֹר ("light") and מַעֲקַשִּׁים ("crooked places" or "rough terrain") into מִישׁוֹר ("level ground"). The closing promise -- וְלֹא עֲזַבְתִּים ("and I will not forsake them") -- assures that God's guidance is permanent.
Verse 17 delivers the counterpoint: those who place their trust in פָּסֶל ("carved images") and מַסֵּכָה ("cast metal images") will be turned back in בֹּשֶׁת ("shame"). The contrast is sharp -- God leads the blind into light, but idolaters retreat into disgrace.
Israel the Blind Servant (vv. 18--22)
18 Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!
19 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? 20 Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear."
21 The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
22 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!"
18 You who are deaf, hear! And you who are blind, look and see!
19 Who is blind but my servant? And who is deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like the one at peace with me, blind like the servant of the LORD? 20 You have seen many things but do not observe; ears are open but no one hears.
21 The LORD was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness, to make his instruction great and glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prison houses. They have become plunder with no one to deliver them, spoil with no one to say, "Give them back!"
Notes
The shift at verse 18 is jarring. After the ideal Servant of vv. 1--9 and the triumphant hymn of vv. 10--17, we encounter Israel as the actual servant -- and she is חֵרְשִׁים ("deaf") and עִוְרִים ("blind"). The imperative is laden with irony: "You deaf ones -- hear! You blind ones -- look!" The very disabilities the Servant was commissioned to heal (v. 7) are now attributed to the servant-nation itself.
Verse 19 drives the irony deeper with a series of rhetorical questions. The word כִּמְשֻׁלָּם is difficult and has been variously interpreted. It may derive from שָׁלַם ("to be at peace, to be in covenant"), meaning "the one in covenant" or "the one who should be whole." Some translate it as "the dedicated one" or "the trusted one." The point is sharp: no one is as blind as the one who should see most clearly -- God's own servant, God's own messenger. Israel had received God's revelation, his covenant, his instruction -- and yet remained blind to its meaning.
Verse 20 describes a paradox: Israel has רָאוֹת רַבּוֹת ("seen many things") -- witnessed God's mighty acts throughout history -- yet does not תִשְׁמֹר ("keep watch" or "observe"). The ears are פָּקוֹחַ ("wide open") but no hearing results. This is not physical blindness but spiritual obduracy -- the refusal to perceive what is plainly visible, a theme Isaiah introduced in his call narrative (Isaiah 6:9-10).
Verse 21 pauses to note that God had been pleased (חָפֵץ) to make his תּוֹרָה ("instruction" or "law") great and glorious for the sake of his own צֶדֶק ("righteousness"). God's revelation was not deficient -- the failure is entirely on the human side. Verse 22 shows the consequence: this people is בָּזוּז וְשָׁסוּי ("plundered and looted"), trapped and imprisoned, with no deliverer. The very conditions the Servant was commissioned to remedy (v. 7) now describe the servant-nation's own predicament.
Who Did This to Israel? (vv. 23--25)
23 Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter?
24 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.
25 So 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.
23 Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and pay attention for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the plunderer, and Israel to the looters? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? For they were not willing to walk in his ways, and they did not obey his instruction.
25 So he poured out upon him the fury of his anger and the violence of war. It set him ablaze all around, but he did not understand; it burned him, but he did not lay it to heart.
Notes
Verse 23 issues a direct challenge: מִי בָכֶם יַאֲזִין זֹאת ("who among you will give ear to this?"). The question demands attentive listening לְאָחוֹר ("for what comes after" or "for the future"). Will Israel finally learn from its past?
Verse 24 asks the decisive theological question of the chapter: who is responsible for Israel's suffering? The answer is unequivocal: הֲלוֹא יְהוָה ("Was it not the LORD?"). Israel's plundering was not a sign of God's weakness or absence but of his judgment. The shift from first person ("we have sinned") to third person ("they were not willing") in the same verse is striking -- the prophet identifies himself with the nation's guilt but also distances himself from its stubbornness. The verb אָבוּ ("they were willing") with the negative indicates not inability but refusal -- they would not walk in God's ways.
Verse 25 describes the outpouring of divine חֵמָה אַפּוֹ ("the fury of his anger") and the עֱזוּז מִלְחָמָה ("the violence of war"). The fire imagery -- וַתְּלַהֲטֵהוּ מִסָּבִיב ("it set him ablaze all around") and וַתִּבְעַר בּוֹ ("it burned him") -- echoes the judgment language of Isaiah 1:31. Yet the final detail is the most telling: וְלֹא יָדָע ("but he did not understand") and וְלֹא יָשִׂים עַל לֵב ("he did not lay it to heart"). Even divine judgment has not penetrated Israel's obduracy. The chapter ends not with resolution but with an aching question hanging in the air: if the servant-nation is this blind, this deaf, this unresponsive even to the fire of God's discipline, who will fulfill the Servant's mission of bringing justice and light to the nations? The answer will unfold across the chapters to come.
Interpretations
The relationship between the ideal Servant (vv. 1--9) and the blind servant-nation (vv. 18--25) has generated significant interpretive discussion:
Two-servant reading (common in Christian interpretation): The ideal Servant of vv. 1--9 is a distinct figure -- ultimately the Messiah -- who will accomplish what Israel the servant-nation has failed to do. Israel was called to be God's servant and light to the nations but proved blind and deaf. Christ takes up Israel's vocation and fulfills it. This reading sees a deliberate contrast between the two "servants" in the chapter.
One-servant-in-tension reading (some Jewish and critical interpreters): Both passages describe Israel, but vv. 1--9 present the ideal vocation while vv. 18--25 present the present reality. The tension is internal to Israel's identity: called to greatness but mired in failure. The resolution is not a different servant but Israel's eventual restoration and faithfulness.
Remnant reading (some Reformed interpreters): The ideal Servant represents the faithful remnant within Israel -- those who truly embody the covenant calling -- while vv. 18--25 describe the nation as a whole. The Servant Songs progressively narrow the identity of the Servant from the nation to the remnant to a single individual who represents and redeems both.