Major Prophets · Chapter 42 of 66
Isaiah 42
God presents His chosen Servant, upheld and filled with His Spirit, who will bring justice to the nations gently, not breaking a bruised reed or quenching smoking flax. Called as a covenant and a light to the Gentiles, He opens blind eyes and frees prisoners. Creation is summoned to sing a new song. Yet God rebukes His blind, deaf servant-people, whose sin brought judgment they failed to understand.
What happens in Isaiah 42
The chapter opens with the first of Isaiah's Servant Songs. God points to my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, upon whom He puts His Spirit to bring justice to the Gentiles. The Servant works gently: He does not cry out in the streets, does not break a bruised reed or quench smoking flax, yet will not fail nor be discouraged until justice fills the earth, and the coastlands wait for His law.
God the Creator appoints Him as a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes and free prisoners from darkness. God then calls the whole earth to sing a new song and declares He will go forth as a mighty warrior. The tone shifts as God rebukes His servant-people, Israel, blind and deaf despite seeing much, who suffered plunder and fire because they sinned and would not walk in His ways.
Isaiah 42 in context
Spoken to exiles, this chapter introduces the Servant, a figure whose identity unfolds across Isaiah 42 to 53. Sometimes the servant is Israel, called to be God's witness yet failing through blindness; sometimes it is an individual Servant who succeeds where the nation failed, bringing justice and light to the Gentiles.
The tension between the ideal Servant and the flawed servant-people drives the chapters, pointing toward one who would truly fulfill the calling Israel could not.
Main themes of Isaiah 42
Isaiah 42 (KJV)
1Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. 5Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: 6I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. 8I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. 9Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. 10Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. 11Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands. 13The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. 14I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. 15I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. 16And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. 17They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. 18Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. 19Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant? 20Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. 21The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable. 22But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. 23Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? 24Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. 25Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
Verses to carry from Isaiah 42
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.”Isaiah 42:1
“A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.”Isaiah 42:3
“I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;”Isaiah 42:6
New Testament quotation
How Isaiah 42 points to Jesus
Matthew's Gospel quotes this passage directly and applies it to Jesus, citing behold my servant, whom I have chosen, a bruised reed shall he not break, to explain His gentle, healing ministry and His care for the vulnerable. The New Testament thus identifies Jesus as the Servant on whom God's Spirit rests, delighting the Father's soul, a designation echoed at His baptism. His calling as a light of the Gentiles is taken up when Simeon greets the infant Jesus and when the apostles carry the gospel to the nations.
Where Israel proved a blind, failing servant, Christians confess that Jesus is the faithful Servant who does not fail nor grow discouraged, establishing justice and opening blind eyes. This is a direct New Testament quotation, one of Scripture's clearest links between Isaiah's Servant and Christ.
Questions about Isaiah 42
What does the bruised reed and smoking flax reveal about the Servant?
These images picture the weak and the barely surviving: a reed already crushed, a wick with only a dying ember. The Servant does not break or extinguish them but tends them toward strength. His justice is not harsh or crushing; it is marked by gentleness toward the fragile. The New Testament sees this fulfilled in Jesus, who welcomed the broken and fanned faint faith into flame rather than snuffing it out.
How can the servant be both Israel and an individual?
Isaiah uses servant in two ways. Israel is God's servant, called to witness yet rebuked here as blind and deaf. Alongside stands a Servant who succeeds where the nation fails, bringing justice and light to the Gentiles. The chapters develop this tension until the Servant emerges as one who suffers for the people. Christians read Jesus as the true Israel, the faithful Servant who fulfills the calling the nation could not.
Reflection
I am often the bruised reed and the smoking flax, weak and nearly out. It steadies me that the Servant's way is not to crush but to tend such fragile faith. And when I recognize my own blindness, I am drawn to the one Servant who never failed, in whom God's delight and light are fully found.
A prayer from Isaiah 42
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