Isaiah 50–52

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.^aHearken to me, ^bye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord:

^cLook unto the rock whence ye are hewn,

And to the hole of ^dthe pit whence ye are digged.

²Look unto ^eAbraham your father,

And unto ^fSarah that bare you:

^gFor I called him ^halone,

And ^giblessed him, and ^gincreased him.

³For the Lord ^kshall comfort Zion:

He will comfort all ^lher waste places;

And he will make her wilderness like ^mEden,

And her desert ⁿlike the garden of the Lord;

Joy and gladness shall be found therein,

Thanksgiving, and ^othe voice of melody.

^4aHearken unto me, my people;

And ^pgive ear unto me, O my nation:

For ^qa law shall proceed from me,

And I will ^rmake my judgment to rest ^sfor a light of the people.

^5tMy righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth,

And ^umine arms shall judge the people;

^vThe isles shall wait upon me,

And on mine arm shall they trust.

^6wLift up your eyes to the heavens,

And look upon the earth beneath:

For ^xthe heavens shall vanish away like smoke,

And ^ythe earth shall wax old like a garment,

And they that dwell therein shall die ^zin like manner:

But my salvation shall be for ever,

And my righteousness shall not be abolished.

^7aHearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,

The people ^bin whose heart is my law;

^cFear ye not the reproach of men,

Neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

⁸For ^dthe moth shall eat them up like a garment,

And the worm shall eat them like wool:

But my righteousness shall be for ever,

And my salvation from generation to generation.

^9eAwake, awake, ^fput on strength, ^gO arm of the Lord;

Awake, as ^hin the ancient days, in the generations of old.

Art thou not it ⁱthat hath cut ^kRahab, and wounded ^lthe dragon?

¹⁰Art thou not it which hath ^mdried the sea, the waters of the great deep;

That hath made the depths of the sea a way for ⁿthe ransomed to pass over?

^11oTherefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return,

^oAnd come with singing unto Zion;

^oAnd everlasting joy shall be upon their head:

^oThey shall obtain gladness and joy;

^oAnd sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

¹²I, even I, am ^phe that comforteth you:

^ppWho art thou, that thou shouldest ^qbe afraid of a man that shall die,

And of the son of man which shall be made ^ras grass;

^13ppAnd ^sforgettest the Lord ^tthy Maker,

^uThat hath stretched forth the heavens, and ^vlaid the foundations of the earth;

And hast feared continually every day because of the fury of ^wthe oppressor,

As if he were ready to destroy?

And ^xwhere is the fury of the oppressor?

^14yThe captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed,

And ^zthat he should not die ^ain the pit,

Nor that his bread should fail.

¹⁵But I am the Lord thy God,

^bThat ^cdivided the sea, whose waves roared:

^bThe Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁶And ^dI have put my words in thy mouth,

And ^ehave covered thee in the shadow of mine hand,

That I may plant the heavens, and ^flay the foundations of the earth,

And say unto Zion, ^gThou art my people.

^17hAwake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,

ⁱWhich hast drunk at the hand of the Lord ^kthe cup of his fury;

^lThou hast drunken ^kthe dregs of ^mthe cup of trembling, and ^lwrung them out.

¹⁸ⁿThere is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth;

Neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.

^19oThese two things are come unto thee; who shall be ^psorry for thee?

Desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword:

^qBy whom shall I ^pcomfort thee?

^20qqThy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as ^ra wild bull ^sin a net:

They are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.

²¹Therefore ^thear now this, ^ttthou afflicted,

And ^kudrunken, but not with wine:

²²Thus saith ^vthy Lord the Lord,

And thy God that ^wpleadeth the cause of his people,

Behold, I have taken out of thine hand ^kthe cup of ^mtrembling,

Even ^kthe dregs of the cup of my fury;

Thou shalt no more drink it again:

²³But ^xI will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee;

^yWhich have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over:

And ^zthou hast laid thy body as the ground,

And as the street, to them that went over.

LII.^aAwake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion;

Put on ^bthy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, ^cthe holy city:

For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and ^dthe unclean.

^2eShake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem:

^fLoose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

³For thus saith the Lord,

^gYe have sold yourselves ^hfor nought;

And ⁱye shall be redeemed without money.

⁴For thus saith the Lord God,

^kMy people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there;

And the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

⁵Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord,

That my people is taken away for nought?

They that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord;

And ^lmy name continually every day is ^mblasphemed.

⁶Therefore my people shall know my name:

Therefore they shall know ⁿin that day ^othat I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.

^7pHow beautiful ^qupon the mountains are ^rthe feet of him ^sthat bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace;

^sThat bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation;

That saith unto Zion, ^tThy God reigneth!

⁸Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice;

With the voice together shall they sing:

For ^uthey shall see eye to eye,

When the Lord shall bring again Zion.

^9vBreak forth into joy, sing together, ^wye waste places of Jerusalem:

^xFor the Lord hath comforted his people, ^yhe hath redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord hath made bare ^zhis holy arm in the eyes of all the nations;

^aAnd ^ball the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

^11cDepart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing;

Go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, ^dthat bear the vessels of the Lord.

¹²For ^eye shall not go out ^fwith haste,

Nor go by flight:

^gFor the Lord will go before you;

And ^gthe God of Israel will be your rereward.

¹³Behold, ^hmy servant shall deal prudently,

ⁱHe shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

¹⁴As many ^kwere astonied at thee;

^lHis visage was so marred more than any man,

And his form more than the sons of men:

¹⁵So ^mshall he sprinkle many nations;

ⁿThe kings shall shut their mouths at him:

For ^othat which had not been told them shall they see;

And that which they had not heard shall they consider.

LIII.