Isaiah 42:19 BSB — MannaFest

Isaiah 42:19

Who 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

Parallel translations (2) ▾

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?

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Commentary

3 voices

Eusebius of Caesarea

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:23 (339)

He 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."

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

14 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
מִ֤י	mi	who?	H4310 →
עִוֵּר֙	'i.Ver	[is] blind	H5787 →
כִּ֣י	ki	that	H3588 →
אִם־	'im-	except	H518 →
עַבְדִּ֔י	'av.Di	servant my	H5650 →
וְחֵרֵ֖שׁ	ve.che.Resh	and deaf	H2795 →
כְּמַלְאָכִ֣י	ke.mal.'a.Khi	like messenger my	H4397 →
אֶשְׁלָ֑ח	'esh.Lach	[whom] I will send	H7971 →
מִ֤י	mi	who?	H4310 →
עִוֵּר֙	'i.Ver	[is] blind	H5787 →
כִּמְשֻׁלָּ֔ם	kim.shu.Lam	like [one] in a covenant	H7999 →
וְעִוֵּ֖ר	ve.'i.Ver	and blind	H5787 →
כְּעֶ֥בֶד	ke.'E.ved	like [the] servant of	H5650 →
יְהוָֽה׃	Yah.weh	Yahweh	H3068 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
2 Corinthians 4:4
The 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.
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 independent 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.
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.”
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 independent paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20
  Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
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.
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.”

Featured studies on this passage

On Isaiah 42:19

The Servant Songs — Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 53

Open the study →

Walks through Isaiah 42

The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 — the single most extensive and specific messianic prophecy in the Old Testament, preserved in a scroll that predates Christ by more than a century.

Open the study →

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Isaiah: the study guide →Read chapter 42 →The featured study →

Continue: Isaiah 42 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Isaiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Isaiah