2 ARST He will not show his power by shouting or by talking very loudly. BSB BSB: He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets.
3 ARST He will not get rid of anyone who is weak like a smashed reed, and he will not end the life of anyone who is helpless, like an oil lamp about to stop burning. He will faithfully make sure that judges decide cases justly. BSB BSB: A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 ARST He will not become exhausted or discouraged all during the time that he is causing things to be done justly throughout the earth. Even people living on the islands in the oceans will confidently wait for him to teach them his laws.” BSB BSB: He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
5 ARST Yahweh our God created the sky and spread it out. He also created the earth and everything on it. He gives breath to all the people on the earth and causes them to live. And he is the one who says to his special servant, BSB BSB: 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:
7 ARST For you will enable blind people to see, you will free those who are in prison and release those who are in dark dungeons. BSB BSB: to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
9 ARST Everything that I have prophesied has happened, and now I will tell about other things that will happen. I will tell you things that will happen before they happen.” BSB BSB: Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”
10 ARST Sing a new song to Yahweh! Sing to praise him throughout the world! All you people who sail across the oceans, and all you creatures that live in the oceans, and all you people who live on islands far away, sing! BSB BSB: 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.
12 ARST Even people who live on distant islands should honor Yahweh and sing to praise him. BSB BSB: Let them give glory to the LORD and declare His praise in the islands.
13 ARST It will be as though Yahweh will march out like a mighty soldier; he will show that he is very angry. He will shout a battle cry, and then he will defeat all his enemies. BSB BSB: 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:
14 ARST He will say,“I have remained silent for a long time; I have restrained myself from doing what I need to do. But now, like a woman who is giving birth to a baby, I will cry out and gasp and pant. BSB BSB: “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 ARST I will level off the hills and mountains, and I will cause all the plants and trees to dry up. I will cause the rivers to become small streams, and little islands will appear in them, and I will cause all the pools to become dry. BSB BSB: 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 ARST My people who have been taken into exile are like blind people, but I will lead them along a road on which they have not walked before, on a road that they have not seen before. They have felt very helpless, as though they were walking in the darkness, but I will take away that darkness and I will make smooth the road that is in front of them. Those are the things that I will do for them; I will not abandon them. BSB BSB: 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 ARST But those who trust in carved idols, and say to images,‘You are our gods,’ will be completely humiliated.” BSB BSB: But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.
18 ARST You Israelite people who have acted toward God like deaf people, listen to what Yahweh says!“You who have been like blind people, look! BSB BSB: Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!
19 ARST No people are as blind as my people, who should have been serving me. No people are as much like deaf people as the Israelites, who should have been my messengers. No people are as much like blind people as those whom I chose to serve me in a covenant. BSB BSB: 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 ARST You see and know what are the right things to do, but you do not do them. You hear what I say to you, but you do not pay attention.” BSB BSB: Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”
21 ARST Because Yahweh is righteous, he has honored his glorious laws. BSB BSB: The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
22 ARST But armies have destroyed Jerusalem and have completely plundered all the valuable things, and they have captured Yahweh’ s people and taken them away and put them in prison. They have been captured easily, because there was no one to protect them; there was no one to say that they should be allowed to return home. BSB BSB: 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!”
23 ARST Who among you will listen carefully to these things? Who will pay attention from now on? BSB BSB: Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter?
24 ARST Who allowed the valuable possessions of the people of Israel to be stolen? It was Yahweh, because he is the one against whom we had sinned; we did not conduct our lives like he wanted us to, and we did not obey his laws. BSB BSB: 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 ARST Therefore he was extremely angry with us, and he caused our soldiers to be destroyed in battles. It was as though he had lit a fire around us, but we did not understand what he was trying to tell us. His anger with us was like a fire that would burn us up, but we did not pay attention. BSB BSB: 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.