Isaiah 49:14–51:16
14 Butn Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me!”
15 Can a woman forget her suckling,
refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb?
Indeed, these may forget,
buto I, I will not forget you!
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
your destroyers and those who laid you waste departp from you.
18 Lift your eyes up all around and see;
all of them gather; they come to you.
⌊As surely as I live⌋,q
⌊declares⌋r Yahweh,
surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament,
and you shall bind them on like a bride.
19 Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,s
surely now you will be ⌊too cramped for your⌋t inhabitants,u
and those who engulfed you will be far away.
20 Yet the children ⌊born when you were bereaved⌋v will say in your ⌊hearing⌋,w
“The place is too cramped for me;
⌊make room⌋x for me so that I can dwell.”
21 Theny you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne me these?”
And, “I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and thrust away;
soz who raised these?
Look at me! I was left alone;
⌊where have these come from⌋?”a
“Look! I will lift my hand up to the nations,
and I will raise my signal to the peoples,
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.b
23 And kings shall be your ⌊guardians⌋,c
and their queens your nurses.
They shall bow down, ⌊faces⌋d to the ground, to you,
and they will lick up the dust of your feet.
Thene you will know that I am Yahweh;
those who await me shall not be ashamed.
24 Can war-booty be taken from the mighty?
or can a captive of a righteousf person be rescued?
“Indeed a captive of the mighty shall be taken,
and the war-booty of the tyrant shall be rescued,
forg I myself will dispute with your opponent,
and I myself will save your children.
26 And I will feed your oppressors their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their blood as with wine.
Thenh all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh,
your savior and redeemer, the strong one of Jacob.”
“Where is this divorce document of your mother’s divorce, with which I dismissed her?
or to whom of my creditors did I sell you?
Look! you were sold because of your sin,
and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.
2 Why was there no man when I came,
no one who answered when I called?
⌊Do I lack the strength to save⌋?a
Or is there no power in me to deliver?
Look! by my rebuke I dry up the sea;
I ⌊make⌋b the rivers a desert;
their fish stink because there is no water,
and theyc die because of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with darkness,
and I ⌊make⌋d their covering sackcloth.”
4 The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of a pupil,
to know how to help the weary with a word.
He awakens ⌊morning by morning⌋,e
awakens an ear for me to listen as do the pupils.
5 The Lord Yahweh has opened an ear for me,
and I, I was not rebellious.
I did not turn backwards;
6 I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out my ⌊beard⌋;f
I did not hide my face from insults and spittle.
7 And the Lord Yahweh helps me,
therefore I have not been put to shame;
therefore I have set my face like flint.
And I know that I shall not be ashamed;
8 he who obtains rights for me is near.
Who will contend with me? Let us stand together.
Who is the master of my judgment? Let him approach me.
9 Look! The Lord Yahweh helps me.
Who is the one who will declare me guilty?
Look! All of them will be worn out like a garment;
the moth will eat them.
10 Who among you is in fear of Yahweh,
obeysg the voice of his servant?
Who walks in darkness
and has no light,
trusts in the name of Yahweh
and depends on his God?
11 Look! All of you are kindlers of fire,
who gird yourselves with flaming arrows.
Walk in the light of your fire,
and among the flaming arrows you have kindled!
You shall have this from my hand:
you shall lie down inh a place of torment.
51 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
who seek Yahweh.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried.
2 Look to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah; she brought you forth.
For I called him ⌊alone⌋,a
butb I blessed him and made him numerous.”
3 For Yahweh will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all its sites of ruins.
And he will ⌊make⌋c its wilderness like Eden,
and its desert like the garden of Yahweh.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
thanksgiving and the ⌊sound⌋d of song.
4 “Listen attentively to me, my people,
and my nation, listen to me!
For a teaching will go out from me,
and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples.
The coastlands wait for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens
and look to the earth beneath,
for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke,
and the earth will be worn out like a garment,
and those who inhabit her will die like gnats.
Bute my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.
7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
people who have my teaching in their heart;
you must not fear the reproach of men,
or be terrified because of their abuse.
8 For a moth will eat them like garments;
a moth will devourf them like wool,
butg my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation for ⌊generation after generation⌋.h”
9 Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh!
Awake as in days of long ago,
the generations of a long time back!
Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces,
the one who pierced the sea-dragon?
10 Are you not the one who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
the one who ⌊made⌋i the depths of the sea a way
for those who are redeemed to cross over?
11 Soj the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return,
and they shall come to Zion with singing,
and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.k
Joy and gladness shall ⌊appear⌋;l
sorrow and sighing shall flee away!
12 “I, I am he who comforts you;
who are you thatm you are afraid of man? He dies!
And of the son of humankind? He is ⌊sacrificed⌋n as grass!
13 And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker,
who stretched out the heavens,
and founded the earth.
And you tremble continually, all day,
because of the wrath of the oppressor
when he ⌊takes aim⌋o to destroy.
Butp where is the wrath of the oppressor?
14 The fettered one shall make haste to be freed.
And he shall not die inq the pit,
and he shall not lack his bread.
15 Forr I am Yahweh, your God,
who stirs ups the sea, ⌊so that⌋t its waves roar;
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words in your mouth,
and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand,
to plant the heavens
and to found the earth,
saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”