Isaiah 49–57

THE SERVANT BRINGS SALVATION

49Coasts and islands,^A listen to me;

distant peoples, pay attention.

The Lord called^a me before I was born.

He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.^b

²He made my words like a sharp sword;^c

he hid me in the shadow of his hand.^d

He made me like a sharpened arrow;

he hid me in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant,^e

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

⁴But I myself said: I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and futility;

yet my vindication is with the Lord,

and my reward is with my God.

⁵And now, says the Lord,

who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God is my strength—

⁶he says,

“It is not enough for you to be my servant

raising up the tribes of Jacob

and restoring the protected ones of Israel.

I will also make you a light for the nations,^f

to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”^g

⁷This is what the Lord,

the Redeemer^h of Israel, his Holy One, says

to one who is despised,

to one abhorred by people,^Ai

to a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see, princes will stand up,

and they^B will all bow down

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel^j—and he has chosen you.”^k

⁸This is what the Lord says:

I will answer you in a time of favor,

and I will help you in the day of salvation.^l

I will keep you, and I will appoint you

to be a covenant for the people,^m

to restore the land,

to make them possess the desolate inheritances,

⁹saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”ⁿ

and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They will feed along the pathways,

and their pastures will be on all the barren heights.^o

¹⁰They will not hunger or thirst,

the scorching heat or sun will not strike them;

for their compassionate one will guide them,

and lead them to springs.^p

¹¹I will make all my mountains into a road,

and my highways will be raised up.^q

¹²See, these will come from far away,

from the north and from the west,^Cr

and from the land of Sinim.^DE

¹³Shout for joy, you heavens!^s

Earth, rejoice!

Mountains break into joyful shouts!

For the Lord has comforted his people,^t

and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.^u

ZION REMEMBERED

¹⁴Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;

the Lord has forgotten me!”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or lack compassion for the child of her womb?

Even if these forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;^v

your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your builders^F hurry;

those who destroy and devastate you will leave you.

¹⁸Look up, and look around.

They all gather together; they come to you.^a

As I live”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“you will wear all your children^A as jewelry,

and put them on as a bride does.

¹⁹For your waste and desolate places

and your land marked by ruins

will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants,^b

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

²⁰Yet as you listen, the children

that you have been deprived of will say,

‘This place is too small for me;

make room for me so that I may settle.’^c

²¹Then you will say within yourself,

‘Who fathered these for me?

I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,

exiled and wandering—

but who brought them up?

See, I was left by myself—

but these, where did they come from?’ ”^B

²²This is what the Lord God says:

Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations,

and raise my banner to the peoples.^d

They will bring your sons in their arms,

and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.^e

²³Kings will be your guardians

and their queens^C your nursing mothers.^f

They will bow down to you

with their faces to the ground

and lick the dust at your feet.^g

Then you will know that I am the Lord;^h

those who put their hope in me

will not be put to shame.ⁱ

²⁴Can the prey be taken from a mighty man,

or the captives of a tyrant^D be delivered?

²⁵For this is what the Lord says:

“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,

and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;

I will contend with the one who contends with you,

and I will save your children.

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,^j

and they will be drunk with their own blood

as with sweet wine.

Then all humanity will know

that I, the Lord, am your Savior,^k

and your Redeemer,^l the Mighty One of Jacob.”^m

50This is what the Lord says:

Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

that I used to send her away?ⁿ

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?^o

Look, you were sold for your iniquities,^p

and your mother was sent away

because of your transgressions.

²Why was no one there when I came?

Why was there no one to answer when I called?

Is my arm too weak to redeem?^q

Or do I have no power to rescue?

Look, I dry up the sea by my rebuke;^r

I turn the rivers into a wilderness;

their fish rot because of lack of water

and die of thirst.

³I dress the heavens in black

and make sackcloth their covering.^s

THE OBEDIENT SERVANT

⁴The Lord God has given me

the tongue of those who are instructed^t

to know how to sustain the weary with a word.

He awakens me each morning;

he awakens my ear to listen like those being instructed.^u

⁵The Lord God has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious;

I did not turn back.^v

⁶I gave my back to those who beat me,

and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard.

I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting.^a

⁷The Lord God will help me;

therefore I have not been humiliated;

therefore I have set my face like flint,^b

and I know I will not be put to shame.

⁸The one who vindicates me is near;^c

who will contend with me?

Let us confront each other.^A

Who has a case against me?^B

Let him come near me!

⁹In truth, the Lord God will help me;

who will condemn me?^d

Indeed, all of them will wear out like a garment;

a moth will devour them.^e

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord

and listens to his servant?^f

Who among you walks in darkness,

and has no light?

Let him trust in the name of the Lord;

let him lean on his God.

¹¹Look, all you who kindle a fire,

who encircle yourselves with^C torches;

walk in the light of your fire

and of the torches you have lit!

This is what you’ll get from my hand:

you will lie down in a place of torment.

SALVATION FOR ZION

51Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the Lord:

Look to the rock from which you were cut,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

²Look to Abraham your father,

and to Sarah who gave birth to you.

When I called him, he was only one;

I blessed him and made him many.^g

³For the Lord will comfort Zion;^h

he will comfort all her waste places,

and he will make her wilderness like Eden,ⁱ

and her desert like the garden of the Lord.^j

Joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and melodious song.

⁴Pay attention to me, my people,

and listen to me, my nation;

for instruction will come from me,

and my justice for a light to the nations.^k

I will bring it about quickly.

⁵My righteousness is near,^l

my salvation appears,

and my arms will bring justice to the nations.^m

The coasts and islands will put their hope in me,

and they will look to my strength.^A

⁶Look up to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and its inhabitants will die like gnats.^Bn

But my salvation will last forever,^o

and my righteousness will never be shattered.

⁷Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose heart is my instruction:^p

do not fear disgrace by men,

and do not be shattered by their taunts.

⁸For moths will devour them like a garment,^q

and worms will eat them like wool.^r

But my righteousness will last forever,

and my salvation for all generations.

⁹Wake up, wake up!

Arm of the Lord, clothe yourself with strength.

Wake up as in days past,

as in generations long ago.

Wasn’t it you who hacked Rahab to pieces,^s

who pierced the sea monster?^t

¹⁰Wasn’t it you who dried up the sea,^u

the waters of the great deep,

who made the sea-bed into a road

for the redeemed to pass over?^v

¹¹And the ransomed of the Lord will return^w

and come to Zion with singing,

crowned with unending joy.

Joy and gladness will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹²I—I am the one who comforts you.

Who are you that you should fear humans who die,^a

or a son of man who is given up like grass?^b

¹³But you have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth.^c

You are in constant dread all day long

because of the fury of the oppressor,

who has set himself to destroy.

But where is the fury of the oppressor?^d

¹⁴The prisoner^A is soon to be set free;

he will not die and go to the Pit,

and his food will not be lacking.

¹⁵For I am the Lord your God

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar^e—

his name is the Lord of Armies.

¹⁶I have put my words in your mouth,^f

and covered you in the shadow of my hand,^g

in order to plant^B the heavens,

to found the earth,

and to say to Zion, “You are my people.”

¹⁷Wake yourself, wake yourself up!

Stand up, Jerusalem,

you who have drunk the cup of his fury^h

from the Lord’s hand;

you who have drunk the goblet to the dregs—

the cup that causes people to stagger.

¹⁸There is no one to guide her

among all the children she has raised;

there is no one to take hold of her hand

among all the offspring she has brought up.

¹⁹These two things have happened to you:ⁱ

devastation and destruction,

famine and sword.

Who will grieve for you?

How can I^C comfort you?

²⁰Your children have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a net.

They are full of the Lord’s fury,

the rebuke of your God.

²¹So listen to this, suffering

and drunken one—but not with wine.^j

²²This is what your Lord says—

the Lord, even your God,

who defends his people^k—

“Look, I have removed from your hand

the cup that causes staggering;

that goblet, the cup of my fury.

You will never drink it again.

²³I will put it into the hands of your…