Isaiah 41-42 - The Coastlands

From today's Bible reading:

Isaiah 41:

Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.

The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.


I, the LORD your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”

Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.

Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.

But when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.

Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.

Isaiah 42:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.

I am the LORD; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.

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.

Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.

The LORD goes out like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.

For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.

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,
the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.

Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!

Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD?

He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.

The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.