Discovery BoxIsaiah 42:7 
Contextto release prisoners 2 from dungeons,
those who live in darkness from prisons.
Isaiah 42:16-18
Context42:16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; 3
I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. 4
I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,
and level out the rough ground. 5
This is what I will do for them.
I will not abandon them.
42:17 Those who trust in idols
will turn back and be utterly humiliated, 6
those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’”
42:18 “Listen, you deaf ones!
Take notice, 7 you blind ones!
1 sn This does not refer to literal physical healing of the blind. As the next two lines suggest, this refers metonymically to freeing captives from their dark prisons where their eyes have grown unaccustomed to light.
2 sn This does not refer to hardened, dangerous criminals, who would have been executed for their crimes in ancient Near Eastern society. This verse refers to political prisoners or victims of social injustice.
3 tn Heb “a way they do not know” (so NASB); NRSV “a road they do not know.”
4 tn Heb “in paths they do not know I will make them walk.”
5 tn Heb “and the rough ground into a level place.”
6 tn Heb “be ashamed with shame”; ASV, NASB “be utterly put to shame.”
7 tn Heb “look to see”; NAB, NCV “look and see”; NRSV “look up and see.”
