"Behold, my servant, whom I uphold" opens the first Servant Song (42:1-4): Spirit-endowed, he brings forth justice to the Gentiles without lifting his voice in the street, neither breaking a bruised reed nor quenching a dimly burning wick, the messianic passage Matthew 12:18-21 quotes of Jesus. Jehovah, creator of the heavens, gives this servant as a covenant of the people and a light of the Gentiles, to open blind eyes and free prisoners, and will not give his glory to graven images. A new song rises from the sea, the isles, Kedar, and Sela as Jehovah goes forth like a man of war, crying out like a travailing woman, leading the blind by paths they know not. Then the chapter turns: Israel is the blind servant and deaf messenger, a people robbed and plundered, given to spoilers by Jehovah himself for sin, set on fire yet laying it not to heart.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Prophecy · Isaiah — Isaiah overview

A. 1–9 Behold My Servant: a Bruised Reed He Will Not Break
B. 10–17 Sing a New Song; the LORD Goes Forth as a Warrior
C. 18–25 A Blind Servant and a Deaf Messenger

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Isaiah 433 verses
- Isaiah 43:8Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind, and who have ears but are deaf.
- Isaiah 43:11I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.
- Isaiah 43:19Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
- Read Isaiah 43 →
Matthew 122 verses
- Matthew 12:16warning them not to make Him known.
- Matthew 12:18“Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
- Read Matthew 12 →
Luke 32 verses
- Luke 3:5Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.
- Luke 3:22and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
- Read Luke 3 →
Isaiah 602 verses
- Isaiah 60:7All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will serve you and go up on My altar with acceptance; I will adorn My glorious house.
- Isaiah 60:19No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.
- Read Isaiah 60 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Isaiah 521 verse
- Isaiah 52:13Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
- Read Isaiah 52 →
2 Timothy 21 verse
- 2 Timothy 2:24And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
- Read 2 Timothy 2 →
Ezekiel 341 verse
- Ezekiel 34:16I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
- Read Ezekiel 34 →
Jeremiah 311 verse
- Jeremiah 31:25for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”
- Read Jeremiah 31 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.