Isaiah 49–50

Listen, ^aO isles, unto me;

And hearken, ye people, ^bfrom afar;

^cThe Lord hath called me ^dfrom the womb;

From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

²And he hath made ^emy mouth ^flike a sharp sword;

^gIn the shadow of his hand hath he hid me,

And made me ^ha polished shaft;

In his quiver hath he hid me;

³And said unto me, ⁱThou art my servant,

O Israel, ^kin whom I will be glorified.

⁴Then I said, ^lI have laboured in vain,

I have spent my strength ^mfor nought, and in vain:

Yet surely ⁿmy judgment is with the Lord,

And my work with my God.

⁵And now, saith ^cthe Lord ^othat formed me ^dfrom the womb to be his servant,

To bring Jacob again to him,

Though Israel be not gathered,

Yet shall I ^pbe glorious in the eyes of the Lord,

And my God shall be my strength.

⁶And he said, ^qIt is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob,

And to restore the ^rpreserved of Israel:

^sI will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles.

That thou mayest be ^tmy salvation unto the end of the earth.

^7uThus saith the Lord, the redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,

^vTo him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers,

^wKings shall see and arise,

Princes also shall worship,

Because of ^xthe Lord that is faithful,

And the Holy One of Israel, and ^yhe shall choose thee.

⁸Thus saith the Lord,

^zIn an acceptable time have I heard thee,

And in a day of salvation have I helped thee:

And I will preserve thee, and ^agive thee for a covenant of the people,

To establish the earth, ^aato cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

⁹That thou mayest say ^bcto the prisoners, Go forth;

^bTo them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves.

They shall feed in the ways,

And their pastures shall be in all high places.

^10dThey shall not hunger nor thirst;

^eNeither shall ^fthe heat nor sun smite them:

For he that hath mercy on them ^gshall lead them,

Even by ^hthe springs of water ^gshall he guide them.

¹¹And ⁱI will make all my mountains a way,

And my highways shall be exalted.

¹²Behold, ^kthese shall come from far:

And lo, these ^lfrom the north and ^lfrom the west;

And these from the land of Sinim.

^13mSing, O heavens; and ⁿbe joyful, O earth;

And ^mbreak forth into singing, ^oO mountains:

For the Lord hath comforted his people,

And will have mercy upon his afflicted.

^14pBut Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me,

And my Lord hath forgotten me.

¹⁵Can a woman forget her sucking child,

That she should not have compassion on ^qthe son of her womb?

Yea, ^rthey may forget,

^sYet will I not forget thee.

¹⁶Behold, ^tI have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;

Thy walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Thy children shall make haste;

^uThy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

^18vLift up thine eyes round about, and behold:

^vAll these gather themselves together, and come to thee.

^wAs I live, saith the Lord, ^xthou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament,

And ^xxbind them on thee, ^yas a bride doth.

¹⁹For ^yythy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of ^uthy destruction,

^zShall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,

And they that ^aswallowed thee up shall be far away.

^20bThe children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears,

The place is too strait for me:

^cGive place to me that I may dwell.

²¹Then shalt thou say in thine heart, ^dWho hath begotten me these,

Seeing I have lost my children, and ^eam desolate,

A captive, and removing to and fro?

And who hath brought up these?

Behold, I was left alone;

These, where had they been?

²²Thus saith the Lord God,

^fBehold, ^gI will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles,

And ^hset up my standard to the people:

And ⁱthey shall bring thy sons in their arms,

And thy daughters ^jshall be carried upon their shoulders.

²³And ^kkings shall be thy nursing fathers,

And their queens thy nursing mothers:

^ilThey shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,

And ^mlick up the dust of thy feet;

And thou shalt know that I am the Lord:

For ⁿthey shall not be ashamed that wait for me.

^24oShall the prey be taken from the mighty,

Or the lawful captive delivered?

²⁵But thus saith the Lord,

Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,

And the prey of the terrible shall be delivered:

For I will contend with ^phim that contendeth with thee,

And I will save thy children.

²⁶And ^qI will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh;

And ^rthey shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine:

And all flesh ^sshall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour

And ^tthy redeemer, ^uthe mighty One of Jacob.

L.Thus saith the Lord,

Where is ^athe bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away?

Or ^bwhich of my creditors is it to whom ^cI have sold you?

Behold, ^dfor your iniquities ^ehave you sold yourselves,

And for your transgressions is your mother put away.

²Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?

^fWhen I called, was there none to answer?

^gIs my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, ^hat my rebuke I ⁱdry up the sea,

^kI make the rivers a wilderness:

^lTheir fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.

^3mI clothe the heavens with blackness,

And ⁿI make sackcloth their covering.

^4oThe Lord God hath given me the tongue of ^pthe learned,

^qThat I should know how to speak a word in season to ^rhim that is weary:

He wakeneth ^smorning by morning,

He wakeneth mine ear to hear as ^pthe learned.

⁵The Lord God ^thath opened mine ear,

And ^uI was not rebellious,

Neither ^vturned away back.

⁶I ^wgave my back to the smiters,

And ^xymy cheeks to ^zthem that plucked off the hair:

I hid not my face from shame and ^xaspitting.

⁷For the Lord God will help me;

Therefore shall I not be confounded:

Therefore have ^bI set my face like ^ca flint,

And ^dI know that I shall not be ashamed.

^8eHe is near that justifieth me;

^fWho will contend with me? let us stand together:

Who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

⁹Behold, the Lord God will help me;

Who is he that shall condemn me?

Lo, ^ghthey all shall wax old as a garment; ^githe moth shall eat them up.

¹⁰Who is among you that feareth the Lord,

That obeyeth the voice of his servant,

^kThat walketh in darkness, and hath no light?

Let him trust in the name of the Lord,

And ^lstay upon his God.

¹¹Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with ^msparks:

Walk in ⁿthe light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye ^ohave kindled.

^pThis shall ye have of mine hand;

Ye shall lie down ^qin sorrow.

LI.