Isaiah 42:19
in Isaiah 42Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the LORD?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I send? who is blind as he that is at peace with me, and blind as Jehovah’s servant?
KJV
Who 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?
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 42
Commentary
12 notes on this verseHe reports how they became the blind and dull by saying, "They see many things but do not observe." These things were previously communicated [in Isaiah]: "Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand. Make the mind of this people dull." … You see that all these things he says about the people, he means concerning those of the circumcision. But "the Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his praise."
This site's exposition
Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones
on Isaiah 42:18-20
The chapter turns to Israel, Listen, you deaf ones. The question is startling, Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? The title servant names the one who opens blind eyes in verses 1 to 7 and a blind Israel in verse 19.
This site's exposition
Who is blind but My servant
The Berean covenant partner renders meshullam, which Gesenius, cited by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, takes as friend, the title given Abraham at 41:8. Some Jewish expositors named the prophet himself as the blind servant. Barnes reads the whole nation, one servant standing for many.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 18-19) The deaf, hear! And the blind, look to see. Who is blind, if not my servant? And who is deaf, if not the one to whom I send my messengers? Who is blind, if not the one who has been sold? And who is blind, if not the servant of the Lord? LXX: Hear, you deaf! Look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind, but my children? And deaf, but those who rule over them? Who is blind but he who receives: and the servants of God were made blind. Lest anyone think that what is said, 'Hear, you deaf; look, you blind,' applies to the Gentile people, who were previously deaf and blind (as the Jews foolishly claim to approve by interpretation), the prophetic speech itself shows that the deaf and blind should be understood. 'Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like Israel?' Who is blind, but the one who was previously a servant of the Lord?
The Medieval Church1 voice
He that is sold, as a slave of sin for love of temporal good: you are sold, to do evil in the sight of the Lord (1 Kgs 21:20).
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The verse before may be understood as spoken to the Gentile idolaters, whom he calls deaf and blind, because they worshipped gods that were so. "But," says he, "no wonder you are deaf and blind when my own people are as bad as you, and many of them as much set upon idolatry." 1. He complains of their sottishness--they are blind; and of their stubbornness--they are deaf.
My servant - The Jews, who will not receive their, Messiah. Messenger - My messengers, the singular number being put for the plural, namely the priests and other teachers whom I have appointed to instruct my people.
Called thee - To declare my righteousness, or faithfulness. With-hold - Will give thee counsel and strength for the work. Give thee - To be the mediator in whom my covenant of grace is confirmed with mankind.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Who is blind, but my servant?....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Who is blind, but my servant? - Some of the Jewish expositors suppose that by ‘servant’ here, the prophet himself is intended, who, they suppose is here called blind and deaf by the impious Jews who rejected his message. But it is evident, that by ‘servant’ here, the Jewish people themselves are intended, the singular being used for the plural, in a sense similar to that where they are so often called ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel.’ The phrase ‘servants of God’ is often given to his people, and is used to denote true worshippers.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Or translate, the friend of God, which Israel was by virtue of descent from Abraham, who was so called (Isa 41:8), [GESENIUS]. The language, "my servant" (compare Isa 42:1), "messenger" (Mal 3:1), "perfect" (Ro 10:4; 1Pe 2:22), can, in the full antitypical sense, only apply to Christ.
As my messenger that I sent “As he to whom I have sent my messengers” - כמלכי אשלח kemalachey eshlach, ut ad quem nuncios meos misi. The Vulgate and Chaldee are almost the only interpreters who render it rightly, in consistence with the rest of the sentence, and in perfect agreement with the Hebrew idiom; according to which the ellipsis is to be thus supplied: כלאשר מלאכי אשלח kelaasher malachey eshlach; “As he to whom I have sent my messengers.” As he that is perfect “As he who is perfectly instructed” - See note on Isa 44:2 (note). And blind as the Lord’s servant “And deaf, as the servant of Jehovah” - For ועור veivver, and blind, we must read וחרש vecheresh, and deaf: κωφος, Symmachus, and so a MS. The mistake is palpable, and the correction self-evident, and admissible though there had been no authority for it.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִ֤י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| עִוֵּר֙ | ʾiver | [is] blind | H5787 → | 26 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | except | H518 → | 1069 times |
| עַבְדִּ֔י | ʾavdi | servant my | H5650 → | 799 times |
| וְחֵרֵ֖שׁ | vecheresh | and deaf | H2795 → | 9 times |
| כְּמַלְאָכִ֣י | kemalakhi | like messenger my | H4397 → | 213 times |
| אֶשְׁלָ֑ח | ʾeshlach | [whom] I will send | H7971 → | 845 times |
| מִ֤י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| עִוֵּר֙ | ʾiver | [is] blind | H5787 → | 26 times |
| כִּמְשֻׁלָּ֔ם | kimshulam | like [one] in a covenant | H7999 → | 116 times |
| וְעִוֵּ֖ר | veiver | and blind | H5787 → | 26 times |
| כְּעֶ֥בֶד | keeved | like [the] servant of | H5650 → | 799 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
מִ֤יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
עִוֵּר֙[is] blind
ʾiverH5787 →26 times
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אִם־except
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
עַבְדִּ֔יservant my
ʾavdiH5650 →799 times
וְחֵרֵ֖שׁand deaf
vechereshH2795 →9 times
כְּמַלְאָכִ֣יlike messenger my
kemalakhiH4397 →213 times
אֶשְׁלָ֑ח[whom] I will send
ʾeshlachH7971 →845 times
מִ֤יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
עִוֵּר֙[is] blind
ʾiverH5787 →26 times
כִּמְשֻׁלָּ֔םlike [one] in a covenant
kimshulamH7999 →116 times
וְעִוֵּ֖רand blind
veiverH5787 →26 times
כְּעֶ֥בֶדlike [the] servant of
keevedH5650 →799 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Corinthians 4:4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
it leads to
- John 12:40
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Corinthians 3:14
But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.
- Acts 26:18
to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified…
- Isaiah 6:10
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- 1 John 5:19
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.
- John 12:40
Through
Jeremiah 4:22“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 5:21
“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20
Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
- Jeremiah 5:21
Through
Jeremiah 5:21“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
it leads to
- Acts 28:26
‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
- Acts 28:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:23; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.