New King James Version

Isaiah 42:12-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

12. Let them give glory to the Lord,And declare His praise in the coastlands.

13. The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man;He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war.He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud;He shall prevail against His enemies.

14. “I have held My peace a long time,I have been still and restrained Myself.Now I will cry like a woman in labor,I will pant and gasp at once.

15. I will lay waste the mountains and hills,And dry up all their vegetation;I will make the rivers coastlands,And I will dry up the pools.

16. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;I will lead them in paths they have not known.I will make darkness light before them,And crooked places straight.These things I will do for them,And not forsake them.

17. They shall be turned back,They shall be greatly ashamed,Who trust in carved images,Who say to the molded images,‘You are our gods.’

18. “Hear, you deaf;And look, you blind, that you may see.

19. Who is blind but My servant,Or deaf as My messenger whom I send?Who is blind as he who is perfect,And blind as the Lord’s servant?

20. Seeing many things, but you do not observe;Opening the ears, but he does not hear.”

21. The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;He will exalt the law and make it honorable.

22. But this is a people robbed and plundered;All of them are snared in holes,And they are hidden in prison houses;They are for prey, and no one delivers;For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!”

23. Who among you will give ear to this?Who will listen and hear for the time to come?