Isaiah 49–57

49TH CHAPTER

The Lord’s Servant Will Bring Salvation to the Nations

¹Listen to me, you islands. 

Pay attention, you people far away. 

Before I was born, the Lord chose me. 

While I was in my mother’s womb, he recorded my name. 

²He made my tongue like a sharp sword 

and hid me in the palm of his hand. 

He made me like a sharpened arrow 

and hid me in his quiver. 

³He said to me, 

“You are my servant Israel. 

I will display my glory through you.” 

⁴But I said, 

“I have worked hard for nothing. 

I have used my strength, but I didn’t accomplish anything. 

Yet, certainly my case is in the Lord’s hands, 

and my reward is with my God.” 

⁵The Lord formed me in the womb to be his servant 

in order to bring Jacob back to him 

and gather Israel to him. 

(The Lord honors me, 

and my God has become my strength.) 

⁶Now, the Lord says, 

“You are not just my servant 

who restores the tribes of Jacob 

and brings back those in Israel whom I have preserved. 

I have also made you a light for the nations 

so that you would save people all over the world.” 

⁷The Lord is the defender of Israel, its Holy One. 

This is what the Lord says to the despised one, to the one scorned by the nation, to the slave of rulers: 

Kings will see ⸤you⸥ and stand. 

Princes will see ⸤you⸥ and bow. 

The Lord is faithful. 

The Holy One of Israel has chosen you. 

⁸This is what the Lord says: 

In the time of favor I will answer you. 

In the day of salvation I will help you. 

I will protect you. 

I will appoint you as my promise^ato the people. 

You will restore the land. 

You will make them inherit the desolate inheritance. 

⁹You will say to the prisoners, “Come out,” 

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

They will graze along every path, 

and they will find pastures on every bare hill. 

¹⁰They will never be hungry or thirsty, 

nor will the sun or the burning, hot wind strike them. 

The one who has compassion on them will lead them 

and guide them to springs. 

¹¹I will turn all my mountains into roads, 

and my highways will be restored. 

¹²They will come from far away. 

They will come from the north and from the west, 

and they will come from the land of Sinim. 

¹³Sing with joy, you heavens! 

Rejoice, you earth! 

Break into shouts of joy, you mountains! 

The Lord has comforted his people 

and will have compassion on his humble people. 

The Lord Has Not Forgotten Israel

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me. 

My Lord has forgotten me.” 

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child? 

Will she have no compassion on the child from her womb? 

Although mothers may forget, 

I will not forget you. 

¹⁶I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. 

Your walls are always in my presence. 

¹⁷Your children will hurry back. 

Those who destroyed you and laid waste to you will leave you. 

¹⁸Look up, look around, and watch! 

All of your children are gathering together and returning to you. 

“I solemnly swear as I live,” declares the Lord, 

“you will wear all of them like jewels 

and display them on yourself as a bride would.” 

¹⁹Though you are destroyed and demolished and your land is in ruins, 

you will be too crowded for ⸤your⸥ people now. 

Those who devoured you will be long gone. 

²⁰The children taken from you will say to you, 

“This place is too crowded for me. 

Make room for me to live here.” 

²¹Then you will ask yourself, 

“Who has fathered these ⸤children⸥ for me? 

I was childless and unable to have children. 

I was exiled and rejected. 

Who raised these ⸤children for me⸥? 

I was left alone. 

Where have they come from?” 

²²This is what the Almighty Lord says: 

I will lift my hand ⸤to signal⸥ the nations. 

I will raise my flag for the people. 

They will bring your sons in their arms 

and carry your daughters on their shoulders. 

²³Then kings will be your foster fathers, 

and their queens will nurse you. 

They will bow in front of you 

with their faces touching the ground. 

They will lick the dust at your feet. 

Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

Those who wait with hope for me will not be put to shame. 

²⁴Can loot be taken away from mighty men 

or prisoners be freed from conquerors? 

²⁵This is what the Lord says: 

Prisoners will be freed from mighty men. 

Loot will be taken away from tyrants. 

I will fight your enemies, 

and I will save your children. 

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, 

and they will become drunk on their own blood 

as though it were new wine. 

Then all humanity will know that I am the Lord, who saves you, 

the Mighty One of Jacob, who reclaims you. 

50TH CHAPTER

The Lord’s People Were Sold because of Their Sin

¹This is what the Lord says: 

Where are your mother’s divorce papers? 

Did I give her any to get rid of her? 

To which of my creditors did I sell you? 

You were sold because of your sins. 

I got rid of your mother because of your rebellion. 

²Why was no one here when I came? 

Why was no one here to answer when I called? 

Am I too weak to reclaim you? 

Don’t I have the power to rescue you? 

I dry up the sea with my command, 

and I turn rivers into deserts. 

Their fish stink because there is no water, 

and people die of thirst. 

³I clothe the heavens in darkness 

and cover them with sackcloth. 

The Lord’s Servant Trusts in the Lord’s Help

⁴The Almighty Lord will teach me what to say, 

so I will know how to encourage weary people. 

Morning after morning he will wake me 

to listen like a student. 

⁵The Almighty Lord will open my ears. 

I will not rebel, nor will I turn away ⸤from him⸥. 

⁶I will offer my back to those who whip me 

and my cheeks to those who pluck hairs out of my beard. 

I will not turn my face away from those who humiliate me 

and spit on me. 

⁷The Almighty Lord helps me. 

That is why I will not be ashamed. 

I have set my face like a flint. 

I know that I will not be put to shame. 

⁸The one who pronounces me innocent is near. 

Who will bring a case against me? 

Let us confront each other! 

Who accuses me? 

Let him confront me! 

⁹The Almighty Lord helps me. 

Who will find me guilty? 

They will all wear out like a garment. 

Moths will eat them. 

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord 

and obeys his servant? 

Let those who walk in darkness and have no light 

trust the name of the Lord 

and depend upon their God. 

¹¹But all of you light fires 

and arm yourselves with flaming torches. 

So walk in your own light 

and among the torches you have lit. 

This is what you will receive from me: 

You will be tormented. 

51ST CHAPTER

The Lord Will Save His People

¹Listen to me, you people who pursue what is right and 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 ancestor, 

and to Sarah, from whom you are descended. 

When I called Abraham, he was childless. 

I blessed him and gave him many descendants. 

³So the Lord will comfort Zion. 

He will comfort all those who live among its ruins. 

He will make its desert like Eden. 

He will make its wilderness like the garden of the Lord. 

Joy and gladness will be found in it, 

thanksgiving and the sound of singing. 

⁴Pay attention to me, my people. 

Open your ears to hear me, my nation. 

My teachings will go out from me. 

My justice will become a light for the people. 

⁵My righteousness is near. 

My salvation is on the way. 

I will bring justice to people. 

The coastlands put their hope in me, 

and they wait eagerly for me. 

⁶Look at the sky. 

Look at the earth below. 

The sky will vanish like smoke. 

The earth will wear out like clothing, 

and those who live there will die like flies. 

But my salvation will last forever, 

and my righteousness will never fail. 

⁷Listen to me, you people who know righteousness, 

you people who have my teachings in your hearts. 

Don’t be afraid of being insulted by people. 

Don’t be discouraged by their ridicule. 

⁸Moths will eat them like clothing. 

Worms will devour them like wool. 

But my righteousness will last forever, 

and my salvation will last throughout every generation. 

⁹Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Lord! 

Wake up as you did in days long past, as in generations long ago. 

Didn’t you cut Rahab^ainto pieces and stab the serpent? 

¹⁰Didn’t you dry up the sea, the water of the great ocean? 

You made a road in the depths of the sea 

so that the people reclaimed ⸤by the Lord⸥ 

might pass through it. 

¹¹The people ransomed by the Lord will return. 

They will come to Zion singing with joy. 

Everlasting happiness will be on their heads ⸤as a crown⸥. 

They will be glad and joyful. 

They will have no sorrow or grief. 

¹²I alone am the one who comforts you. 

Why, then, are you afraid of mortals, who must die, 

of humans, who are like grass? 

¹³Why have you forgotten the Lord, your Creator? 

He stretched out the heavens 

and laid the foundations of the earth. 

Why should you live in constant fear of the fury 

of those who oppress you, 

of those who are ready to destroy you? 

Where is the fury of those who oppress you? 

¹⁴Chained prisoners will be set free. 

They will not die in prison. 

They will not go without food. 

¹⁵I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea 

and makes its waves roar. 

My name is the Lord of Armies. 

¹⁶I put my words in your mouth 

and sheltered you in the palm of my hand. 

I stretched out the heavens, 

laid the foundations of the earth, 

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

Wake Up, Jerusalem

¹⁷Wake up! Wake up! 

Stand up, Jerusalem! 

You drank from the cup in the Lord’s hand. 

That cup was filled with his anger. 

You drank from the bowl, the cup that makes people stagger, 

and you drained it! 

¹⁸From all the children she gave birth to, 

there was no one to guide her. 

From all the children she raised, 

there was no one to take her by the hand. 

¹⁹Twice as many disasters have happened to you. 

Who will feel sorry for you? 

Violence, destruction, famine, and war have happened to you. 

Who will comfort you? 

²⁰Your children have fainted. 

They lie sleeping at every street corner. 

They are like an antelope caught in a net. 

They experience the anger of the Lord, 

the fury of your God. 

²¹Listen to this, you humble people 

who are drunk but not from wine. 

²²The Lord your God defends his people. 

This is what your master…