5  Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens ^mand stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

ⁿwho gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

6  “I am the Lord; ^oI have called you¹ in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you ^pas a covenant for the people,

^qa light for the nations,

7  ^rto open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

^sfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.

8  I am the Lord; that is my name;

^tmy glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

9  Behold, the former things have come to pass,

^uand new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.”

10  ^vSing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth,

^wyou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

^lthe coastlands and their inhabitants.

11  Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that ^xKedar inhabits;

let the habitants of ^ySela sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12  Let them give glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in ^lthe coastlands.

13  ^zThe Lord goes out like a mighty man,

like a man of war ^ahe stirs up his zeal;

he cries out, ^bhe shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.

14  For a long time I have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out ^clike a woman in labor;

I will gasp and pant.

15  ^dI will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,²

and dry up the pools.

16  ^eAnd 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,

^fthe rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them.

17  ^gThey are turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal 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 my dedicated one,³

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

20  ^hHe sees many things, but does not observe them;

ⁱhis 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.