Isaiah 50–52

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 tormentors,

who said to you,^l

‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’

You made your back like the ground,

and like a street for those who walk on it.

52“Wake up, wake up;

put on your strength, Zion!

Put on your beautiful garments,^m

Jerusalem, the holy city!ⁿ

For the uncircumcised and the unclean

will no longer enter you.^o

²Stand up, shake the dust off yourself!

Take your seat, Jerusalem.

Remove the bonds^A from your neck,

captive Daughter Zion.”

³For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,

and you will be redeemed without silver.”^p

⁴For this is what the Lord God says:

“At first my people went down to Egypt to reside there,^q

then Assyria oppressed them without cause.^B

⁵So now what have I here”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“that my people are taken away for nothing?

Its rulers wail”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“and my name is continually blasphemed all day long.^a

⁶Therefore my people will know my name;^b

therefore they will know on that day

that I am he who says,

‘Here I am.’ ”

⁷How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the herald,

who proclaims peace,

who brings news of good things,^c

who proclaims salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”^d

⁸The voices of your watchmen^e—

they lift up their voices,

shouting for joy together;

for every eye will see

when the Lord returns to Zion.

⁹Be joyful, rejoice together,

you ruins of Jerusalem!^f

For the Lord has comforted his people;^g

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord has displayed his holy arm

in the sight of all the nations;^h

all the ends of the earth will see

the salvation of our God.ⁱ

¹¹Leave, leave, go out from there!^j

Do not touch anything unclean;

go out from her, purify yourselves,^k

you who carry the vessels of the Lord.

¹²For you will not leave in a hurry,^l

and you will not have to take flight;

because the Lord is going before you,^m

and the God of Israel is your rear guard.ⁿ

THE SERVANT’S SUFFERING AND EXALTATION

¹³See, my servant^Ao will be successful;^B

he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.^p

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at you^C—

his appearance was so disfigured

that he did not look like a man,

and his form did not resemble a human being—

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations.^Dq

Kings will shut their mouths because of him,

for they will see what had not been told them,

and they will understand what they had not heard.^r