Lent · Fourth Sunday in Lent · Year A
Isaiah 42:14-21
The Servant Who Is Blind
March 15, 2026
Overview & Insights
“I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them.” (Isaiah 42:16)
The oracle follows the first Servant song (42:1-9) and a short hymn (42:10-13), and it opens with one of the boldest figures for God in the Bible: silence broken, and then a cry like a woman in labor, gasping and panting (v. 14). The chapter has just presented God as a warrior (v. 13) and sets the two images side by side without comment. Blindness then becomes the governing metaphor, and it changes hands. In v. 16 the blind are the exiles whom God will lead along a road they do not know; by v. 19 the blind one is the servant himself, which is why the servant of this chapter is so difficult to identify with the figure of 42:1-4. Verse 21 is textually hard and the ancient versions differ over it. Paired in this series with the man born blind in John 9, the reading makes the sight given there a reversal of Israel’s own condition rather than a private cure.
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Take it further: Isaiah 42:14-21
Commentary
Isaiah 42 Commentary: The Servant's SongIs 42 Commentary: The Servant's Song enduringword.com
David Guzik's full-chapter commentary, covering the labor-cry and blind-servant imagery of vv. 14-21.
Isaiah 42 - Barnes' Notes on the Whole BibleIs 42 - Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible studylight.org
Barnes' detailed exegesis of God's long silence and the deaf/blind servant.
Old Testament: Isaiah 42:14-21 (Lent 4: Series A)Old Testament: Is 42:14-21 (Lent 4: Series A) 1517.org
1517's preaching commentary written specifically for this LSB Lent 4 pericope.
Background & Word Study
Isaiah 42:14 InterlinearIs 42:14 Interlinear biblehub.com
Hebrew interlinear for the labor-cry verse that opens this reading.
Isaiah 42:14-21Is 42:14-21 sefaria.org
Hebrew text with Jewish commentary layers (Rashi, Ibn Ezra) on the servant's blindness and deafness.
Servant at Work (Isaiah 40ff.)Servant at Work (Is 40ff.) theologyofwork.org
Theology of Work's discussion of the Isaiah 40-42 servant material framing the passage's mission theme.
Isaiah 42:5-9 - The Mission of God's PeopleIs 42:5-9 - The Mission of God's People enterthebible.org
Luther Seminary's Enter the Bible notes on the servant's mission, the context leading into vv. 14-21.
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