Isaiah 49–57

Chapter 49

Salvation Reaches to the End of the Earth

¹Listen to Me, O ^aislands,

And pay attention, you peoples from afar.

^bThe Lord called Me from the womb;

From the ¹body of My mother He named Me.

²He has made My ^amouth like a sharp sword,

In the ^bshadow of His hand He has concealed Me;

And He has also made Me a ¹select ^carrow,

He has hidden Me in His quiver.

³He said to Me, “^aYou are My Servant, Israel,

^bIn Whom I will ¹show My glory.”

⁴But I said, “I have ^atoiled in vain,

I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;

Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,

And My ^breward with My God.”

⁵And now says ^athe Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him, so that ^bIsrael might be gathered to Him

(For I am ^chonored in the sight of the Lord,

And My God is My ^dstrength),

⁶He says, “It is too ¹small a thing that You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ^apreserved ones of Israel;

I will also make You a ^blight ²of the nations

So that My salvation may ³reach to the ^cend of the earth.”

⁷Thus says the Lord, the ^aRedeemer of Israel and its Holy One,

To the ^bdespised One,

To the One abhorred by the nation,

To the Servant of rulers,

“^cKings will see and arise,

Princes will also ^dbow down,

Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

⁸Thus says the Lord,

“In a ^afavorable time I have answered You,

And in a day of salvation I have helped You;

And I will ^bkeep You and ^cgive You for a covenant of the people,

To ^1drestore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;

⁹Saying to those who are ^abound, ‘Go forth,’

To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

Along the roads they will feed,

And their pasture will be on all ^bbare heights.

¹⁰“They will ^anot hunger or thirst,

Nor will the scorching ^bheat or sun strike them down;

For ^cHe who has compassion on them will ^dlead them

And will guide them to ^esprings of water.

¹¹“I will make all ^aMy mountains a road,

And My ^bhighways will be raised up.

¹²“Behold, these will come ^afrom afar;

And lo, these will come from the ^bnorth and from the west,

And these from the land of Sinim.”

^13aShout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!

Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!

For the ^bLord has comforted His people

And will ^chave compassion on His afflicted.

Promise to Zion

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

And the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can a woman forget her nursing child

And have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget, but ^aI will not forget you.

¹⁶“Behold, I have ^ainscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Your ^bwalls are continually before Me.

¹⁷“Your ¹builders hurry;

Your ^adestroyers and devastators

Will depart from you.

¹⁸“^aLift up your eyes and look around;

^bAll of them gather together, ^cthey come to you.

^dAs I live,” declares the Lord,

“You will surely ^eput on all of them as ¹jewels and bind them on as a bride.

¹⁹“For ^ayour waste and desolate places and your destroyed land—

Surely now you will be ^btoo cramped for the inhabitants,

And those who ^cswallowed you will be far away.

²⁰“The ^achildren of ¹whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears,

‘The place is too cramped for me;

Make room for me that I may live here.’

²¹“Then you will ^asay in your heart,

‘Who has begotten these for me,

Since I have been bereaved of my children

And am ^bbarren, an ^cexile and a wanderer?

And who has reared these?

Behold, I was ^dleft alone;

^1eFrom where did these come?’ ”

²²Thus says the Lord ¹God,

“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations

And set up My ^astandard to the peoples;

And they will ^bbring your sons in their bosom,

And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

²³“^aKings will be your guardians,

And their princesses your nurses.

They will ^bbow down to you with their faces to the earth

And ^click the dust of your feet;

And you will ^dknow that I am the Lord;

Those who hopefully ^ewait for Me will ^fnot be put to shame.

²⁴“^aCan the prey be taken from the mighty man,

Or the captives of ¹a tyrant be rescued?”

²⁵Surely, thus says the Lord,

“Even the ^acaptives of the mighty man will be taken away,

And the prey of the tyrant will be rescued;

For I will contend with the one who contends with you,

And I will ^bsave your sons.

²⁶“I will feed your ^aoppressors with their ^bown flesh,

And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;

And ^call flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your ^dSavior

And your ^eRedeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Chapter 50

God Helps His Servant

¹Thus says the Lord,

“Where is the ^acertificate of divorce

By which I have ^bsent your mother away?

Or to whom of My creditors did I ^csell you?

Behold, you were sold for your ^diniquities,

And for your ^etransgressions your mother ^fwas sent away.

²“Why was there ^ano man when I came?

When I called, why was there none to answer?

Is My ^bhand so short that it cannot ransom?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, I ^cdry up the sea with My rebuke,

I ^dmake the rivers a wilderness;

Their fish stink for lack of water

And die of thirst.

³“I ^aclothe the heavens with blackness

And make sackcloth their covering.”

⁴The Lord ¹God has given Me the tongue of ^adisciples,

That I may know how to ^bsustain the weary one with a word.

He awakens Me ^cmorning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

⁵The Lord God has ^aopened My ear;

And I was ^bnot disobedient

Nor did I turn back.

⁶I ^agave My back to those who strike Me,

And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;

I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.

⁷For the Lord God ^ahelps Me,

Therefore, I am ^bnot disgraced;

Therefore, I have set My face like ^cflint,

And I know that I will not be ashamed.

⁸He who ^avindicates Me is near;

Who will contend with Me?

Let us ^bstand up to each other;

Who has a case against Me?

Let him draw near to Me.

⁹Behold, ^athe Lord God helps Me;

^bWho is he who condemns Me?

Behold, ^cthey will all wear out like a garment;

The moth will eat them.

¹⁰Who is among you that fears the Lord,

That obeys the voice of His ^aservant,

That ^bwalks in darkness and has no light?

Let him ^ctrust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

¹¹Behold, all you who ^akindle a fire,

Who ¹encircle yourselves with firebrands,

Walk in the light of your fire

And among the brands you have set ablaze.

This you will have from My hand:

You will ^blie down in torment.

Chapter 51

Israel Exhorted

¹“^aListen to me, you who ^bpursue righteousness,

Who seek the Lord:

Look to the ^crock from which you were hewn

And to the ¹quarry from which you were dug.

²“Look to ^aAbraham your father

And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;

When he ^bwas but one I called him,

Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”

³Indeed, ^athe Lord will comfort Zion;

He will comfort all her ^bwaste places.

And her ^cwilderness He will make like ^dEden,

And her desert like the ^egarden of the Lord;

^fJoy and gladness will be found in her,

Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.

⁴“^aPay attention to Me, O My people,

And give ear to Me, O My ¹nation;

For a ^blaw will go forth from Me,

And I will ²set My ^cjustice for a ^dlight of the peoples.

⁵“My ^arighteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth,

And My ^barms will judge the peoples;

The ^ccoastlands will wait for Me,

And for My ^darm they will wait expectantly.

⁶“^aLift up your eyes to the sky,

Then look to the earth beneath;

For the ^bsky will vanish like smoke,

And the earth will wear out like a garment

And its inhabitants will die ¹in like manner;

But My ^csalvation will be forever,

And My righteousness will not ²wane.

⁷“^aListen to Me, you who know righteousness,

A people in whose ^bheart is My law;

Do not fear the ^creproach of man,

Nor be dismayed at their revilings.

⁸“For the ^amoth will eat them like a garment,

And the ^bgrub will eat them like wool.

But My ^crighteousness will be forever,

And My salvation to all generations.”

^9aAwake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord;

Awake as in the ^bdays of old, the generations of long ago.

^cWas it not You who cut Rahab in pieces,

Who pierced the ^ddragon?

¹⁰Was it not You who ^adried up the sea,

The waters of the great deep;

Who made the depths of the sea a pathway

For the ^bredeemed to cross over?

¹¹So the ^aransomed of the Lord will return

And come with joyful shouting to Zion,

And ^beverlasting joy will be on their heads.

They will obtain gladness and joy,

And ^csorrow and sighing will flee away.

¹²“I, even I, am He who ^acomforts you.

Who are you that you are afraid of ^bman who dies

And of the son of man who is made ^clike grass,

¹³That you have ^aforgotten the Lord your Maker,

Who ^bstretched out the heavens

And laid the foundations of the earth,

That you ^cfear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor,

As he makes ready to destroy?

But where is the fury of the ^doppressor?

¹⁴“The ^1aexile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, ^bnor will his bread be lacking.

¹⁵“For I am the Lord your God, who ^astirs up the sea and its waves roar (the Lord of hosts is His name).

¹⁶“I have ^aput My words in your mouth and have ^bcovered you with the shadow of My hand, to ^1cestablish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”

^17aRouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem,

You who have ^bdrunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger;

The ¹chalice of reeling you have ²drained to the dregs.

¹⁸There is ^anone to guide her among all the sons she has borne,

Nor is there one to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared.

¹⁹These two things have befallen you;

Who will mourn for you?

The ^adevastation and destruction, famine and sword;

How shall I comfort you?

²⁰Your sons have fainted,

They ^alie helpless at the head of every street,

Like an ^bantelope in a net,

Full of the wrath of the Lord,

The ^crebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore, please hear this, you ^aafflicted,

Who are ^bdrunk, but not with wine:

²²Thus says your Lord, the Lord, even your God

Who ^acontends for His people,

“Behold, I have taken out of your hand the ^bcup of reeling,

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