Isaiah 42:5-10

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NRSV

⁵ Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
⁶ I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,^[a]
a light to the nations,
⁷ to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
⁸ I am the LORD, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
⁹ See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.
¹⁰ Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar^[b] and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.

[a] Meaning of Heb uncertain

[b] Cn Compare Psalm 96:11; Psalm 98:7: Heb Those who go down to the sea

Bible understanding of the earth and sky

See Unfurling the Heavens re the imagery of verse 5. Compare the present tense used in Isaiah 40:22 with the past tense in this verse.

The meaning of "adam"

Discussion at Reconciliation challenge: a literal single male ancestor, or modern science? (Acts 17:26) noted W R Horst's suggestion that this passage (and others) is behind Paul's words to the Areopagites. A relevant extract of Horst's paper is here.

W R Horst also makes the case that Isaiah 42:5 echoes the first chapter of Genesis:

Isaiah 42:5 lists various creation events in a manner that matches the order of Genesis 1. God “made heaven and pitched it” (Gen 1:6-8), “established the earth” (Gen 1:9-13), and “the things in it” (Gen 1:20-25) including “the people...who walk on it” (Gen 1:26-27). While this is by no means a comprehensive account of Genesis 1, it is fair to say that Isaiah is congenial to Genesis 1:1-2:4. In light of this, the statement that God “gives breath to the people upon [the earth] and spirit to those who walk in it” can be read as reminiscent of the giving of breath in Genesis 2:7.^[a]

[a] So Christopher R. Seitz, “The Book of Isaiah 40-66,” NIB 6:364. Note that while ‫נשמת‬/πνοή is used of the breath of life in LXX Gen 2:7, ‫רוח‬/πνεῦμα is used of the same breath of life in Gen 6:17; cf. Gen 6:3. MT Gen 7:22 combines the two with ‫נשמת־רוח‬, though this is rendered simply as πνεῦμα in LXX. Both terms can be used to speak of the animating breath of life in Genesis, so the synonymous use of both terms in Isa 42:5 does not lessen the echo in any substantial way.

— William Russell Horst, Paul, the Athenians, and the Breath of Life: Acts 17:22-31

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Literal Reading

Verse 5 is cited here as "accepting" events of early Genesis "as literally true". See comment here. —BP
See Literal and Figurative Creation in the Bible and Created, formed and made.

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