Isaiah 49–57

Chapter 49

The Lord’s Servant Commissioned

¹Listen to me, all you in distant lands!

Pay attention, you who are far away!

The Lord called me before my birth;

from within the womb he called me by name.

²He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.

He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.

I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel,

and you will bring me glory.”

⁴I replied, “But my work seems so useless!

I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.

Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;

I will trust God for my reward.”

⁵And now the Lord speaks—

the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant,

who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him.

The Lord has honored me,

and my God has given me strength.

⁶He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.

I will make you a light to the Gentiles,

and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

⁷The Lord, the Redeemer

and Holy One of Israel,

says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations,

to the one who is the servant of rulers:

“Kings will stand at attention when you pass by.

Princes will also bow low

because of the Lord, the faithful one,

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

Promises of Israel’s Restoration

⁸This is what the Lord says:

“At just the right time, I will respond to you.

On the day of salvation I will help you.

I will protect you and give you to the people

as my covenant with them.

Through you I will reestablish the land of Israel

and assign it to its own people again.

⁹I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out in freedom,’

and to those in darkness, ‘Come into the light.’

They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures

and on hills that were previously bare.

¹⁰They will neither hunger nor thirst.

The searing sun will not reach them anymore.

For the Lord in his mercy will lead them;

he will lead them beside cool waters.

¹¹And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.

The highways will be raised above the valleys.

¹²See, my people will return from far away,

from lands to the north and west,

and from as far south as Egypt.”

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens!

Rejoice, O earth!

Burst into song, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on them in their suffering.

¹⁴Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us;

the Lord has forgotten us.”

¹⁵“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?

Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?

But even if that were possible,

I would not forget you!

¹⁶See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.

Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem’s walls in ruins.

¹⁷Soon your descendants will come back,

and all who are trying to destroy you will go away.

¹⁸Look around you and see,

for all your children will come back to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“they will be like jewels or bridal ornaments for you to display.

¹⁹“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land

will soon be crowded with your people.

Your enemies who enslaved you

will be far away.

²⁰The generations born in exile will return and say,

‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’

²¹Then you will think to yourself,

‘Who has given me all these descendants?

For most of my children were killed,

and the rest were carried away into exile.

I was left here all alone.

Where did all these people come from?

Who bore these children?

Who raised them for me?’ ”

²²This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“See, I will give a signal to the godless nations.

They will carry your little sons back to you in their arms;

they will bring your daughters on their shoulders.

²³Kings and queens will serve you

and care for all your needs.

They will bow to the earth before you

and lick the dust from your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Those who trust in me will never be put to shame.”

²⁴Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior?

Who can demand that a tyrant let his captives go?

²⁵But the Lord says,

“The captives of warriors will be released,

and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.

For I will fight those who fight you,

and I will save your children.

²⁶I will feed your enemies with their own flesh.

They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood.

All the world will know that I, the Lord,

am your Savior and your Redeemer,

the Mighty One of Israel.”

Chapter 50

This is what the Lord says:

“Was your mother sent away because I divorced her?

Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors?

No, you were sold because of your sins.

And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.

²Why was no one there when I came?

Why didn’t anyone answer when I called?

Is it because I have no power to rescue?

No, that is not the reason!

For I can speak to the sea and make it dry up!

I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish.

³I dress the skies in darkness,

covering them with clothes of mourning.”

The Lord’s Obedient Servant

⁴The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom,

so that I know how to comfort the weary.

Morning by morning he wakens me

and opens my understanding to his will.

⁵The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me,

and I have listened.

I have not rebelled or turned away.

⁶I offered my back to those who beat me

and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.

I did not hide my face

from mockery and spitting.

⁷Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,

I will not be disgraced.

Therefore, I have set my face like a stone,

determined to do his will.

And I know that I will not be put to shame.

⁸He who gives me justice is near.

Who will dare to bring charges against me now?

Where are my accusers?

Let them appear!

⁹See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side!

Who will declare me guilty?

All my enemies will be destroyed

like old clothes that have been eaten by moths!

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys his servant?

If you are walking in darkness,

without a ray of light,

trust in the Lord

and rely on your God.

¹¹But watch out, you who live in your own light

and warm yourselves by your own fires.

This is the reward you will receive from me:

You will soon fall down in great torment.

Chapter 51

A Call to Trust the Lord

¹“Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—

all who seek the Lord!

Consider the rock from which you were cut,

the quarry from which you were mined.

²Yes, think about Abraham, your ancestor,

and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation.

Abraham was only one man when I called him.

But when I blessed him, he became a great nation.”

³The Lord will comfort Israel again

and have pity on her ruins.

Her desert will blossom like Eden,

her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord.

Joy and gladness will be found there.

Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.

⁴“Listen to me, my people.

Hear me, Israel,

for my law will be proclaimed,

and my justice will become a light to the nations.

⁵My mercy and justice are coming soon.

My salvation is on the way.

My strong arm will bring justice to the nations.

All distant lands will look to me

and wait in hope for my powerful arm.

⁶Look up to the skies above,

and gaze down on the earth below.

For the skies will disappear like smoke,

and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing.

The people of the earth will die like flies,

but my salvation lasts forever.

My righteous rule will never end!

⁷“Listen to me, you who know right from wrong,

you who cherish my law in your hearts.

Do not be afraid of people’s scorn,

nor fear their insults.

⁸For the moth will devour them as it devours clothing.

The worm will eat at them as it eats wool.

But my righteousness will last forever.

My salvation will continue from generation to generation.”

⁹Wake up, wake up, O Lord! Clothe yourself with strength!

Flex your mighty right arm!

Rouse yourself as in the days of old

when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile.

¹⁰Are you not the same today,

the one who dried up the sea,

making a path of escape through the depths

so that your people could cross over?

¹¹Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.

They will enter Jerusalem singing,

crowned with everlasting joy.

Sorrow and mourning will disappear,

and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

¹²“I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.

So why are you afraid of mere humans,

who wither like the grass and disappear?

¹³Yet you have forgotten the Lord, your Creator,

the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy

and laid the foundations of the earth.

Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?

Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?

Where is their fury and anger now?

It is gone!

¹⁴Soon all you captives will be released!

Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!

¹⁵For I am the Lord your God,

who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.

My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁶And I have put my words in your mouth

and hidden you safely in my hand.

I stretched out the sky like a canopy

and laid the foundations of the earth.

I am the one who says to Israel,

‘You are my people!’ ”

¹⁷Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem!

You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury.

You have drunk the cup of terror,

tipping out its last drops.

¹⁸Not one of your children is left alive

to take your hand and guide you.

¹⁹These two calamities have fallen on you:

desolation and destruction, famine and war.

And who is left to sympathize with you?

Who is left to comfort you?

²⁰For your children have fainted and lie in the streets,

helpless as antelopes caught in a net.

The Lord has poured out his fury;

God has rebuked them.

²¹But now listen to this, you afflicted ones

who sit in a drunken stupor,

though not from drinking wine.

²²This is what the Sovereign Lord,

your God and Defender, says:

“See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands.

You will drink no more of my fury.

²³Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors,

those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust

and walk on your backs.’ ”

Chapter 52

Deliverance for Jerusalem

¹Wake up, wake up, O Zion!

Clothe…