Isaiah 50:4–51:16

4  The Lord God has given rme

the tongue of those who are taught,

that sI may know how to sustain with a word

thim who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

5  uThe Lord God has opened my ear,

vand I was not rebellious;

I turned not backward.

6  wI gave my back to those who strike,

and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;

I hid not my face

from disgrace and spitting.

7  But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

xtherefore I have set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

8  yHe who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand up together.

Who is my adversary?

Let him come near to me.

9  zBehold, the Lord God helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

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

the moth will eat them up.

10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys athe voice of his servant?

bLet him who walks in darkness

and has no light

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.

11  Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

who equip yourselves with burning torches!

Walk by the light of your fire,

and by the torches that you have kindled!

cThis you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

The Lord’s Comfort for Zion

51 d“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the Lord:

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

2  Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for ehe was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

3  For the Lord fcomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and makes her wilderness like gEden,

her desert like hthe garden of the Lord;

ijoy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4  j“Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

kfor a law1 will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

5  lMy righteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

mthe coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait.

6  nLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

ofor the heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;2

pbut my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

7  q“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people rin whose heart is my law;

sfear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

8  tFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool,

pbut my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.”

9  uAwake, awake, vput on strength,

O warm of the Lord;

awake, xas in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut yRahab in pieces,

who pierced zthe dragon?

10  aWas it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to pass over?

11  bAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12  “I, I am he cwho comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of dman who dies,

of the son of man who is made elike grass,

13  and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

fwho stretched out the heavens

and glaid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of hthe oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of hthe oppressor?

14  iHe who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down jto the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking.

15  I am the Lord your God,

kwho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the Lord of hosts is his name.

16  lAnd I have put my words in your mouth

mand covered you in the shadow of my hand,

nestablishing3 the heavens

and olaying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”