Isaiah 49–50

The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles

49“Listen, ^aO coastlands, to Me,

And take heed, you peoples from afar!

^bThe Lord has called Me from the womb;

From the ¹matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.

²And He has made ^cMy mouth like a sharp sword;

^dIn the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,

And made Me ^ea polished shaft;

In His quiver He has hidden Me.”

³“And He said to me,

^f‘You are My servant, O Israel,

^gIn whom I will be glorified.’

^4hThen I said, ‘I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;

Yet surely my ²just reward is with the Lord,

And my ³work with my God.’ ”

⁵“And now the Lord says,

Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him,

So that Israel ⁱis ⁴gathered to Him

(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,

And My God shall be My strength),

⁶Indeed He says,

‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob,

And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;

I will also give You as a ^jlight to the Gentiles,

That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

⁷Thus says the Lord,

The Redeemer of Israel, ⁵their Holy One,

^kTo Him ⁶whom man despises,

To Him whom the nation abhors,

To the Servant of rulers:

^l“Kings shall see and arise,

Princes also shall worship,

Because of the Lord who is faithful,

The Holy One of Israel;

And He has chosen You.”

⁸Thus says the Lord:

“In an ^macceptable ⁷time I have heard You,

And in the day of salvation I have helped You;

I will ⁸preserve You ⁿand give You

As a covenant to the people,

To restore the earth,

To cause them to inherit the desolate ⁹heritages;

⁹That You may say ^oto the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’

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

“They shall feed along the roads,

And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.

¹⁰They shall neither ^phunger nor thirst,

^qNeither heat nor sun shall strike them;

For He who has mercy on them ^rwill lead them,

Even by the springs of water He will guide them.

^11sI will make each of My mountains a road,

And My highways shall be elevated.

¹²Surely ^tthese shall come from afar;

Look! Those from the north and the west,

And these from the land of Sinim.”

^13uSing, O heavens!

Be joyful, O earth!

And break out in singing, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted His people,

And will have mercy on His afflicted.

God Will Remember Zion

^14vBut Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,

And my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵“Can ^wa woman forget her nursing child,

¹And not have compassion on the son of her womb?

Surely they may forget,

^xYet I will not forget you.

¹⁶See, ^yI have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Your walls are continually before Me.

¹⁷Your ²sons shall make haste;

Your destroyers and those who laid you waste

Shall go away from you.

^18zLift up your eyes, look around and see;

All these gather together and come to you.

As I live,” says the Lord,

“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all ^aas an ornament,

And bind them on you as a bride does.

¹⁹“For your waste and desolate places,

And the land of your destruction,

^bWill even now be too small for the inhabitants;

And those who swallowed you up will be far away.

^20cThe children you will have,

^dAfter you have lost the others,

Will say again in your ears,

‘The place is too small for me;

Give me a place where I may dwell.’

²¹Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who has begotten these for me,

Since I have lost my children and am desolate,

A captive, and wandering to and fro?

And who has brought these up?

There I was, left alone;

But these, where were they?’ ”

^22eThus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,

And set up My ³standard for the peoples;

They shall bring your sons in their ⁴arms,

And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;

^23fKings shall be your foster fathers,

And their queens your nursing mothers;

They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,

And ^glick up the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord,

^hFor they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

²⁴ⁱShall the prey be taken from the mighty,

Or the captives ⁵of the righteous be delivered?

²⁵But thus says the Lord:

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,

And the prey of the terrible be delivered;

For I will contend with him who contends with you,

And I will save your children.

²⁶I will ^jfeed those who oppress you with their own flesh,

And they shall be drunk with their own ^kblood as with sweet wine.

All flesh ^lshall know

That I, the Lord, am your Savior,

And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

The Servant, Israel’s Hope

50Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^athe certificate of your mother’s divorce,

Whom I have put away?

Or which of My ^bcreditors is it to whom I have sold you?

For your iniquities ^cyou have sold yourselves,

And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.

²Why, when I came, was there no man?

Why, when I called, was there none to answer?

Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Indeed with My ^drebuke I dry up the sea,

I make the rivers a wilderness;

Their fish stink because there is no water,

And die of thirst.

^3eI clothe the heavens with blackness,

^fAnd I make sackcloth their covering.”

⁴“The ^gLord God has given Me

The tongue of the learned,

That I should know how to speak

A word in season to him who is ^hweary.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear

To hear as the learned.

⁵The Lord God ⁱhas opened My ear;

And I was not ^jrebellious,

Nor did I turn away.

^6kI gave My back to those who struck Me,

And ^lMy cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;

I did not hide My face from shame and ^mspitting.

⁷“For the Lord God will help Me;

Therefore I will not be disgraced;

Therefore ⁿI have set My face like a flint,

And I know that I will not be ashamed.

^8oHe is near who justifies Me;

Who will contend with Me?

Let us stand together.

Who is ¹My adversary?

Let him come near Me.

⁹Surely the Lord God will help Me;

Who is he who will condemn Me?

^pIndeed they will all grow old like a garment;

^qThe moth will eat them up.

¹⁰“Who among you fears the Lord?

Who obeys the voice of His Servant?

Who ^rwalks in darkness

And has no light?

^sLet him trust in the name of the Lord

And rely upon his God.

¹¹Look, all you who kindle a fire,

Who encircle yourselves with sparks:

Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—

^tThis you shall have from My hand:

You shall lie down ^uin torment.