1 Daar is my Kneg wat Ek ondersteun, my Uitverkorene in wie my siel 'n welbehae het. Ek het my Gees op Hom gelê; Hy sal die reg na die nasies uitbring.
2 Hy sal nie skreeu of uitroep of sy stem op die straat laat hoor nie.
3 Die geknakte riet sal Hy nie verbreek en die dowwe lamppit nie uitblus nie; met getrouheid sal Hy die reg uitbring.
4 Hy sal nie dof brand of geknak word, totdat Hy die reg op aarde gegrond het nie; en die eilande wag op sy leer.
5 So sê God, die HERE, wat die hemele geskape en hulle uitgesprei het, die aarde uitgespan het saam met wat daaruit voortkom, wat aan die aardbewoners die asem gee en die gees aan wie daarop wandel:
6 Ek, die HERE, het U geroep in geregtigheid, en Ek vat u hand en behoed U en gee U as 'n verbond van die volk, as 'n lig van die nasies,
7 om blinde oë te open; om gevangenes uit die kerker uit te lei, uit die gevangenis diegene wat in die duisternis sit.
8 Ek is die HERE, dit is my Naam; en my eer sal Ek aan geen ander gee, of ook my lof aan die gesnede beelde nie.
9 Kyk, die vorige dinge het gekom, en nuwe dinge verkondig Ek; voordat hulle uitspruit, laat Ek julle dit hoor.
10 Sing tot eer van die HERE 'n nuwe lied, sy lof van die einde van die aarde af -- julle wat op die see vaar, en alles wat daarin is, eilande en bewoners daarvan.
11 Laat die woestyn en sy stede uitroep, die dorpe waar Kedar woon! Laat die rotsbewoners jubel, van die top van die berge af skreeu!
12 Laat hulle aan die HERE die eer gee en sy lof in die eilande verkondig!
13 Die HERE sal uittrek soos 'n held; Hy sal die ywer opwek soos 'n krygsman; Hy sal die strydkreet aanhef, ja uitskreeu, teen sy vyande Hom as held openbaar.
14 Ek het baie lank geswyg, My stil gehou, My bedwing. Ek sal uitskreeu soos een wat baar, Ek sal hard asemhaal en hyg tegelykertyd.
15 Ek sal berge en heuwels woes maak en al hulle plante laat verdroog; en Ek sal riviere tot eilande maak en waterplasse laat opdroog.
16 En Ek sal blindes lei op 'n weg wat hulle nie ken nie, hulle laat loop op paaie wat vir hulle onbekend is; Ek sal die duisternis lig maak voor hulle uit en die hobbelagtige plekke gelyktes. Dit is die dinge wat Ek doen en nie nalaat nie.
17 Maar die wat op gesnede beelde vertrou, wat aan gegote beelde sê: Julle is ons gode -- die sal agteruitwyk, diep beskaamd staan.
18 Hoor, julle dowes, en kyk, julle blindes, om te kan sien.
19 Wie is blind buiten my kneg en doof soos my boodskapper wat Ek stuur? Wie is blind soos die vertroude vriend, en blind soos die kneg van die HERE?
20 Jy het wel baie dinge gesien, maar daar geen ag op gegee nie; die ore oop gehad, maar jy hoor nie.
21 Dit het die HERE behaag ter wille van sy geregtigheid om die onderwysing groot en heerlik te maak.
22 En tog is dit 'n beroofde en geplunderde volk; hulle is almal gebonde in kerkers, verborge in gevangenisse; hulle het 'n buit geword sonder dat iemand red, 'n plundering sonder dat iemand sê: Gee terug!
23 Wie onder julle luister na hierdie dinge? Wie merk op, hoor dit ook vir die toekoms?
24 Wie het Jakob oorgegee as 'n plundering en Israel aan die berowers? Is dit nie die HERE teen wie ons gesondig het nie? En hulle wou in sy weë nie wandel nie en het na sy wet nie geluister nie.
25 Daarom het Hy oor hulle uitgestort die gloed van sy toorn en die geweld van die oorlog; en dit het hulle rondom aan die brand gesteek, maar hulle het dit nie bemerk nie; en dit het hulle gebrand, maar hulle het dit nie ter harte geneem nie.
1 See my servant, whom I am supporting, my loved one, in whom I take delight: I have put my spirit on him; he will give the knowledge of the true God to the nations.
2 He will make no cry, his voice will not be loud: his words will not come to men's ears in the streets.
3 He will not let a crushed stem be quite broken, and he will not let a feebly burning light be put out: he will go on sending out the true word to the peoples.
4 His light will not be put out, and he will not be crushed, till he has given the knowledge of the true God to the earth, and the sea-lands will be waiting for his teaching.
5 God the Lord, even he who made the heavens, measuring them out on high; stretching out the earth, and giving its produce; he who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who go about on it, says:
6 I the Lord have made you the vessel of my purpose, I have taken you by the hand, and kept you safe, and I have given you to be an agreement to the people, and a light to the nations:
7 To give eyes to the blind, to make free the prisoners from the prison, to let out those who are shut up in the dark.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name: I will not give my glory to another, or my praise to pictured images.
9 See, the things said before have come about, and now I give word of new things: before they come I give you news of them.
10 Make a new song to the Lord, and let his praise be sounded from the end of the earth; you who go down to the sea, and everything in it, the sea-lands and their people.
11 Let the waste land and its flocks be glad, the tent-circles of Kedar; let the people of the rock give a glad cry, from the top of the mountains let them make a sound of joy.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord, sounding his praise in the sea-lands.
13 The Lord will go out as a man of war, he will be moved to wrath like a fighting-man: his voice will be strong, he will give a loud cry; he will go against his attackers like a man of war.
14 I have long been quiet, I have kept myself in and done nothing: now I will make sounds of pain like a woman in childbirth, breathing hard and quickly.
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, drying up all their plants; and I will make rivers dry, and pools dry land.
16 And I will take the blind by a way of which they had no knowledge, guiding them by roads strange to them: I will make the dark places light before them, and the rough places level. These things will I do and will not give them up.
17 They will be turned back and be greatly shamed who put their hope in pictured images, who say to metal images, You are our gods.
18 Give ear, you whose ears are shut; and let your eyes be open, you blind, so that you may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant? who has his ears stopped, but he whom I send? who is blind as my true one, or who has his ears shut like the Lord's servant?
20 Seeing much, but keeping nothing in mind; his ears are open, but there is no hearing.
21 It was the Lord's pleasure, because of his righteousness, to make the teaching great and give it honour.
22 But this is a people whose property has been taken away from them by force; they are all taken in holes, and shut up in prisons: they are made prisoners, and no one makes them free; they are taken by force and no one says, Give them back.
23 Who is there among you who will give ear to this? who will give attention to it for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to those who took away his goods, and Israel to his attackers? Did not the Lord? he against whom they did wrong, and in whose ways they would not go, turning away from his teaching.
25 For this reason he let loose on him the heat of his wrath, and his strength was like a flame; and it put fire round about him, but he did not see it; he was burned, but did not take it to heart.