Isaiah 49–57

God Calls His Special Servant

49All of you people in faraway places, listen to me.

Listen, all you nations far away.

Before I was born, the Lord called me to serve him.

The Lord named me while I was still in my mother’s womb.

²He made my tongue like a sharp sword.

He hid me in the shadow of his hand.

He made me like a sharp arrow.

He hid me in the holder for his arrows.

³He told me, “Israel, you are my servant.

I will show my glory through you.”

⁴But I said, “I have worked hard for nothing;

I have used all my power, but I did nothing useful.

But the Lord will decide what my work is worth;

God will decide my reward.”

⁵The Lord made me in the body of my mother

to be his servant,

to lead the people of Jacob back to him

so that Israel might be gathered to him.

The Lord will honor me,

and I will get my strength from my God.

⁶Now he told me,

“You are an important servant to me

to bring back the tribes of Jacob,

to bring back the people of Israel who are left alive.

But, more importantly, I will make you a light for all nations

to show people all over the world the way to be saved.”

⁷The Lord who saves you

is the Holy One of Israel.

He speaks to the one who is hated by the people,

to the servant of rulers.

This is what he says: “Kings will see you and stand to honor you;

great leaders will bow down before you,

because the Lord can be trusted.

He is the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

The Day of Salvation

⁸This is what the Lord says:

“At the right time I will hear your prayers.

On the day of salvation I will help you.

I will protect you,

and you will be the sign of my agreement with the people.

You will bring back the people to the land

and give the land that is now ruined back to its owners.

⁹You will tell the prisoners, ‘Come out of your prison.’

You will tell those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’

The people will eat beside the roads,

and they will find food even on bare hills.

¹⁰They will not be hungry or thirsty.

Neither the hot sun nor the desert wind will hurt them.

The God who comforts them will lead them

and guide them by springs of water.

¹¹I will make my mountains into roads,

and the roads will be raised up.

¹²Look, people are coming to me from far away,

from the north and from the west,

from Aswan in southern Egypt.”

¹³Heavens and earth, be happy.

Mountains, shout with joy,

because the Lord comforts his people

and will have pity on those who suffer.

Jerusalem and Her Children

¹⁴But Jerusalem said, “The Lord has left me;

the Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵The Lord answers, “Can a woman forget the baby she nurses?

Can she feel no kindness for the child to which she gave birth?

Even if she could forget her children,

I will not forget you.

¹⁶See, I have written your name on my hand.

Jerusalem, I always think about your walls.

¹⁷Your children will soon return to you,

and the people who defeated you and destroyed you will leave.

¹⁸Look up and look around you.

All your children are gathering to return to you.”

The Lord says, “As surely as I live,

your children will be like jewels

that a bride wears proudly.

¹⁹“You were destroyed and defeated,

and your land was made useless.

But now you will have more people than the land can hold,

and those people who destroyed you will be far away.

²⁰Children were born to you while you were sad,

but they will say to you,

‘This place is too small for us.

Give us a bigger place to live.’

²¹Then you will say to yourself,

‘Who gave me all these children?

I was sad and lonely,

defeated and separated from my people.

So who reared these children?

I was left all alone.

Where did all these children come from?’ ”

²²This is what the Lord God says:

“See, I will lift my hand to signal the nations;

I will raise my banner for all the people to see.

Then they will bring your sons back to you in their arms,

and they will carry your daughters on their shoulders.

²³Kings will teach your children,

and daughters of kings will take care of them.

They will bow down before you

and kiss the dirt at your feet.

Then you will know I am the Lord.

Anyone who trusts in me will not be disappointed.”

²⁴Can the wealth a soldier wins in war be taken away from him?

Can a prisoner be freed from a powerful soldier?

²⁵This is what the Lord says:

“The prisoners will be taken from the strong soldiers.

What the soldiers have taken will be saved.

I will fight your enemies,

and I will save your children.

²⁶I will force those who trouble you to eat their own flesh.

Their own blood will be the wine that makes them drunk.

Then everyone will know

I, the Lord, am the One who saves you;

I am the Powerful One of Jacob who saves you.”

Israel Was Punished for Its Sin

50This is what the Lord says:

“People of Israel, you say I divorced your mother.

Then where is the paper that proves it?

Or do you think I sold you

to pay a debt?

Because of the evil things you did, I sold you.

Because of the times she turned against me, your mother was sent away.

²I came home and found no one there;

I called, but no one answered.

Do you think I am not able to save you?

Do I not have the power to save you?

Look, I need only to shout and the sea becomes dry.

I change rivers into a desert,

and their fish rot because there is no water;

they die of thirst.

³I can make the skies dark;

I can make them black like clothes of sadness.”

God’s Servant Obeys

⁴The Lord God gave me the ability to teach

so that I know what to say to make the weak strong.

Every morning he wakes me.

He teaches me to listen like a student.

⁵The Lord God helps me learn,

and I have not turned against him

nor stopped following him.

⁶I offered my back to those who beat me.

I offered my cheeks to those who pulled my beard.

I won’t hide my face from them

when they make fun of me and spit at me.

⁷The Lord God helps me,

so I will not be ashamed.

I will be determined,

and I know I will not be disgraced.

⁸He shows that I am innocent, and he is close to me.

So who can accuse me?

If there is someone, let us go to court together.

If someone wants to prove I have done wrong,

he should come and tell me.

⁹Look! It is the Lord God who helps me.

So who can prove me guilty?

Look! All those who try will become useless like old clothes;

moths will eat them.

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys his servant?

That person may walk in the dark

and have no light.

Then let him trust in the Lord

and yet depend on his God.

¹¹But instead, some of you want to light your own fires

and make your own light.

So, go, walk in the light of your fires,

and trust your own light to guide you.

But this is what you will receive from me:

You will lie down in a place of pain.

Jerusalem Will Be Saved

51The Lord says, “Listen to me,

those of you who try to live right and follow the Lord.

Look at the rock from which you were cut;

look at the stone quarry from which you were dug.

²Look at Abraham, your ancestor,

and Sarah, who gave birth to your ancestors.

Abraham had no children when I called him,

but I blessed him and gave him many descendants.

³So the Lord will comfort Jerusalem;

he will show mercy to those who live in her ruins.

He will change her deserts into a garden like Eden;

he will make her empty lands like the garden of the Lord.

People there will be very happy;

they will give thanks and sing songs.

⁴“My people, listen to me;

my nation, pay attention to me.

I will give the people my teachings,

and my decisions will be like a light to all people.

⁵I will soon show that I do what is right.

I will soon save you.

I will use my power and judge all nations.

All the faraway places are waiting for me;

they wait for my power to help them.

⁶Look up to the heavens.

Look around you at the earth below.

The skies will disappear like clouds of smoke.

The earth will become useless like old clothes,

and its people will die like flies.

But my salvation will continue forever,

and my goodness will never end.

⁷“You people who know what is right should listen to me;

you people who follow my teachings should hear what I say.

Don’t be afraid of the evil things people say,

and don’t be upset by their insults.

⁸Moths will eat those people as if they were clothes,

and worms will eat them as if they were wool.

But my goodness will continue forever,

and my salvation will continue from now on.”

⁹Wake up, wake up, and use your strength,

powerful Lord.

Wake up as you did in the old times,

as you did a long time ago.

With your own power, you cut Rahab into pieces

and killed that sea monster.

¹⁰You dried up the sea

and the waters of the deep ocean.

You made the deepest parts of the sea into a road

for your people to cross over and be saved.

¹¹The people the Lord has freed will return

and enter Jerusalem with joy.

Their happiness will last forever.

They will have joy and gladness,

and all sadness and sorrow will be gone far away.

¹²The Lord says, “I am the one who comforts you.

So why should you be afraid of people, who die?

Why should you fear people who die like the grass?

¹³Have you forgotten the Lord who made you,

who stretched out the skies

and made the earth?

Why are you always afraid

of those angry people who trouble you

and who want to destroy?

But where are those angry people now?

¹⁴People in prison will soon be set free;

they will not die in prison,

and they will have enough food.

¹⁵I am the Lord your God,

who stirs the sea and makes the waves roar.

My name is the Lord All-Powerful.

¹⁶I will give you the words I want you to say.

I will cover you with my hands and protect you.

I made the heavens and the earth,

and I say to Jerusalem, ‘You are my people.’ ”

God Punished Israel

¹⁷Awake! Awake!

Get up, Jerusalem.

The Lord was very angry with you;

your punishment was like wine in a cup.

The Lord made you drink that wine;

you drank the whole cup until you stumbled.

¹⁸Jerusalem had many people,

but there was not one to lead her.

Of all the people who grew up there,

no one was there to guide her.

¹⁹Troubles came to you two by two,

but no one will feel sorry for you.

There was ruin and disaster, great hunger and fighting.

No one can comfort you.

²⁰Your people have become weak.

They fall down and lie on every street corner,

like animals caught in a net.

They have felt the full anger of the Lord

and have heard God’s angry shout.

²¹So listen to me,…