Isaiah 42:10-17
The saving God is worthy of a new song.
10 Sing to Yahweh a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the islands and their inhabitants.
11 Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, with the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains!
12 Let them give glory to Yahweh, and declare his praise in the islands.
13 Yahweh will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. He will raise a war cry. Yes, he will shout aloud. He will triumph over his enemies.
14 “I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.
15 I will destroy mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
16 I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.
17 “Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed.
The saving God is worthy of a new song.
To summon a new song of praise in response to the LORD’s coming intervention and to warn idolaters of inevitable shame.
Addressed to a people anticipating deliverance, the passage envisions a future act of God that will impact both Israel and the nations.
The Chosen Servant, New Song, and the Blindness of the LORD’s People
The LORD presents His chosen, Spirit-filled Servant to bring justice, covenant light, and liberation to the nations, while exposing Israel’s blindness and showing that only the LORD’s faithful Servant can accomplish the mission His servant people failed to fulfill.