Bible Strands
Isaiah 42:4
He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah delivers this oracle concerning the Servant’s unwavering mission to establish justice. The declaration follows the description of the Servant’s gentle treatment of the vulnerable and precedes the Creator’s self-introduction.
The words — יִכְהֶה (yikh.Heh) literally means he will grow dim, describing the Servant’s refusal to falter. יָשׂים (ya.Sim) means he will establish, marking the definitive completion of justice on the earth.
The thread — The theme of enduring until a divine purpose is fulfilled echoes Genesis 49:10’s timeline until Shiloh comes. The Servant’s quiet, persistent work parallels the unassuming growth described in Isaiah 53:2.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that justice arrives through persistent, unbroken action rather than sudden force. Readers must accept that hope rests on the certainty of the Servant’s completed work, not on their own strength.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Cross-references
- Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
- Isaiah 53:2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.
- Isaiah 55:5 Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.”
- Psalms 22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
- Isaiah 52:13 Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
- Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.
- Matthew 12:21 In His name the nations will put their hope.”
- Psalms 72:8 May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
- Psalms 98:2 The LORD has proclaimed His salvation and revealed His righteousness to the nations.
- Isaiah 11:9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.