14 I have a long time held my peace: I have been still and refrained myself; now will I cry like a [a]travailing woman: I will destroy and devour at once.

15 I will make waste mountains, and hills, and dry up all their herbs, and I will make the floods islands, and I will dry up the pools.

16 ¶ And I will bring the [b]blind by a way, that they knew not, and lead them by paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 42:14 I will haste to execute my vengeance, which I have so long deferred as a woman that desireth to be delivered, when she is in travail.
  2. Isaiah 42:16 That is, my poor people, which are in perplexity and care.

14 “For a long time I have kept silent,(A)
    I have been quiet and held myself back.(B)
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
    I cry out, I gasp and pant.(C)
15 I will lay waste(D) the mountains(E) and hills
    and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
    and dry up(F) the pools.
16 I will lead(G) the blind(H) by ways they have not known,
    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light(I) before them
    and make the rough places smooth.(J)
These are the things I will do;
    I will not forsake(K) them.

Read full chapter