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 my dedicated one,¹

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

20  He sees many things, but does not observe them;

his ears are open, but he does not hear.

21  The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,

to magnify his law and make it glorious.

22  But this is a people plundered and looted;

they are all of them trapped in holes

and hidden in prisons;

they have become plunder with none to rescue,

spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

23  Who among you will give ear to this,

will attend and listen for the time to come?

24  Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

in whose ways they would not walk,

and whose law they would not obey?

25  So he poured on him the heat of his anger

and the might of battle;

it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;

it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

1  But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have ^vredeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

2  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

3  For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give ^wEgypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

4  Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I ^xlove you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

5  ^yFear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring ^zfrom the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

6  I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

^abring my sons from afar

^band my daughters from the end of the earth,

7  everyone who is ^ccalled by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

8  Bring out the people ^dwho are blind, yet have eyes,

who are deaf, yet have ears!

9  All the nations gather together,

and the peoples assemble.

Who among them can ^edeclare this,

and show us the former things?

Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,

and let them hear and say, It is true.

10  ^f“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“and my servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe me

and understand that ^gI am he.

Before me no god was formed,

nor shall there be any after me.

11  I, I am the Lord,

and ^hbesides me there is no savior.

12  I declared and saved and proclaimed,

when there was no strange god among you;

and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.

13  Also henceforth I am he;

there is none who can deliver from my hand;

I work, and ⁱwho can turn it back?”

14  Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and bring them all down as fugitives,

even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.

15  I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”

16  Thus says the Lord,

^jwho makes a ^kway in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

17  who brings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

18  ^l“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

19  Behold, I am doing a ^mnew thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and ⁿrivers in the desert.

20  The wild beasts will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches,

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

21  the people whom I formed for myself

^othat they might declare my praise.