Isaiah 49–57
49 Listen, aO isles, unto me;
And hearken, ye people, bfrom far;
cThe Lord hath called me dfrom the womb;
From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
2 And he hath made emy mouth flike a sharp sword;
gIn the shadow of his hand hath he hid me,
And made me ha polished shaft;
In his quiver hath he hid me;
3 And said unto me, iThou art my servant,
O Israel, kin whom I will be glorified.
4 Then I said, lI have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength mfor nought, and in vain:
Yet surely nmy judgment is with the Lord,
And ||my work with my God.
5 And now, saith cthe Lord othat formed me dfrom the womb to be his servant,
To bring Jacob again to him,
||Though Israel be not gathered,
Yet shall I pbe glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And my God shall be my strength.
6 And he said, ||qIt is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the ||rpreserved of Israel:
sI will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,
That thou mayest be tmy salvation unto the end of the earth.
7 uThus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One,
v||To him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers,
wKings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of xthe Lord that is faithful,
And the Holy One of Israel, and yhe shall choose thee.
zIn an acceptable time have I heard thee,
And in a day of salvation have I helped thee:
And I will preserve thee, and agive thee for a covenant of the people,
To ||establish the earth, aato cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
9 That thou mayest say bcto the prisoners, Go forth;
bTo them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves.
They shall feed in the ways,
And their pastures shall be in all high places.
10 dThey shall not hunger nor thirst;
eNeither shall fthe heat nor sun smite them:
For he that hath mercy on them gshall lead them,
Even by hthe springs of water gshall he guide them.
11 And iI will make all my mountains a way,
And my highways shall be exalted.
12 Behold, kthese shall come from far:
And, lo, these lfrom the north and lfrom the west;
And these from the land of Sinim.
13 mSing, O heavens; and nbe joyful, O earth;
And mbreak forth into singing, oO mountains:
For the Lord hath comforted his people,
And will have mercy upon his afflicted.
14 pBut Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me,
And my Lord hath forgotten me.
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child,
†That she should not have compassion on qthe son of her womb?
Yea, rthey may forget,
sYet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, tI have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;
Thy walls are continually before me.
17 Thy children shall make haste;
uThy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
18 vLift up thine eyes round about, and behold:
vAll these gather themselves together, and come to thee.
wAs I live, saith the Lord, xthou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament,
And xxbind them on thee, yas a bride doeth.
19 For yythy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of uthy destruction,
zShall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,
And they that aswallowed thee up shall be far away.
20 bThe children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears,
The place is too strait for me:
cGive place to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, dWho hath begotten me these,
Seeing I have lost my children, and eam desolate,
A captive, and removing to and fro?
And who hath brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
These, where had they been?
fBehold, gI will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles,
And hset up my standard to the people:
And ithey shall bring thy sons in their †arms,
And thy daughters jshall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And kkings shall be thy †nursing fathers,
And their †queens thy nursing mothers:
ilThey shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,
And mlick up the dust of thy feet;
And thou shalt know that I am the Lord:
For nthey shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
24 oShall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or †the lawful captive delivered?
Even the †captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible shall be delivered:
For I will contend with phim that contendeth with thee,
And I will save thy children.
26 And qI will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh;
And rthey shall be drunken with their own blood, as with ||sweet wine:
And all flesh sshall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour
And tthy Redeemer, uthe mighty One of Jacob.
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 ye sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions is your mother put away.
2 Wherefore, 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.
3 mI clothe the heavens with blackness,
And nI make sackcloth their covering.
4 oThe 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.
5 The Lord God thath opened mine ear,
And uI was not rebellious,
Neither vturned away back.
6 I 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.
7 For 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.
8 eHe is near that justifieth me;
fWho will contend with me? let us stand together:
Who is †mine adversary? let him come near to me.
9 Behold, 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.
10 Who 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.
11 Behold, 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.
51 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.
2 Look unto eAbraham your father,
And unto fSarah that bare you:
And giblessed him, and gincreased him.
3 For 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.
4 aHearken 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.
5 tMy 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.
6 wLift 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.
7 aHearken 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.
8 For 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.
9 eAwake, 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?
10 Art 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?
11 oTherefore 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.
12 I, 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;
13 ppAnd 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?
14 yThe captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed,
And zthat he should not die ain the pit,
Nor that his bread should fail.
bThat cdivided the sea, whose waves roared:
bThe Lord of hosts is his name.
16 And dI have put my words in thy mouth,
And eI have 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.
17 hAwake, 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.
18 nThere 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.
19 oThese 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?
20 qqThy 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.