Isaiah 42:7

לִפְקֹחַ עֵינַיִם עִוְרוֹת לְהוֹצִיא מִמַּסְגֵּר אַסִּיר מִבֵּית כֶּלֶא יֹשְׁבֵי חֹשֶׁךְ׃

7 To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from the prison, and those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

לִפְקֹחַ עֵינַיִם עִוְרוֹת To open the eyes of the blind, לִפְקֹחַ is a qal infinitive construct, another complement of וְאֶתֶּנְךָ לִבְרִית עָם "I have given you as a covenant of the people." Not that עֵינַיִם is typically found in the dual, "eyes." The adjective עִוְרוֹת (the form is hapax) is usually found as a substantive, "the blind." The Mp note says that עֵינַיִם occurs 28 times (see below).

What kind of blindness is this? Young (III, 121) is insistent that this is neither physical nor spiritual blindness. Pieper (188-189) uses the term "spiritual blindness" and does not elaborate. Young's explanation is that this must be the blindness that results from sin, and I would maintain that this is exactly what Pieper means by "spiritual blindness," which is the direct result of sin in mankind. Luther says the same thing, speaking of the results of spiritual blindness: "Thus here, too, all lights apart from Christ are darkness, as is free will. Afterwards there is also captivity."

לְהוֹצִיא מִמַּסְגֵּר אַסִּיר to bring out prisoners from the locks, The hifil infinitive construct לְהוֹצִיא (from יָצָא, "come, go out") is another complementary infinitive. The singular מַסְגֵּר is to be taken as a collective here. It means "locksmith" with an echo of the "smith, blacksmith" idea familiar from references to idols throughout Isaiah. Prisoners are bound by the work of locksmiths, and to go to "the locks" or "the lockup" is still a phrase we use. In the pual, the verb סגר means "be closed up, be shut up (in a dungeon)." The Mp note says that it occurs twice (cf. Psalm 142:8). אַסִּיר usually refers to prisoners taken in battle.

מִבֵּית כֶּלֶא יֹשְׁבֵי חֹשֶׁךְ and those who sit in darkness from the house of confinement. כֶּלֶא "restraint, confinement" is used as the genitive for "house." יֹשְׁבֵי is an attributive qal participle, "those who sit, dwell." We need to look as חֹשֶׁךְ "darkness" in the context of אוֹר "light" in the previous verse. To be brought out of darkness into God's light, is to be brought out of the complete darkness of sin, death and the devil.

God looks at our faith and he even praises it, but he is the one who gave it to us. His words are like the words of the husband in Solomon's song, “How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves” (Song of Solomon 1:15). He praises the thing she has least control over; as God praises us for the thing that he gave us.

Jesus gives this gift to the world, a "light for the Gentiles," to bring healing to people who were outside of Israel, but who have been brought into God's family through the same saving act of Jesus on the cross.

Mp: עֵינַיִם twenty-eight times: Gen 20:16; 38:14; 49:12; Lev 26:16; Num 24:4; 24:16; Dt 28:65; 1 Sam 16:12; Job 22:29; 29:15; Ps 19:9; 101:5; 115:5; 135:16; Prov 6:17; 15:30; 21:4; 23:29; Eccl 6:9; Isaiah 3:16; 42:7; 59:10; Jer 5:21; Ezek 1:18; 10:12; 12:2; Hab. 1:13; Zech 3:9.