Isaiah 49–50

The Servant’s Mission

⁴⁹Listen to me, O coastlands;

pay attention, you peoples from far away!

The Lord called me before I was born;

while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.^*

²He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.^*

³And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”^*

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord

and my reward with my God.”^*

⁵And now the Lord says,

who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—^*

⁶he says,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”^*

⁷Thus says the Lord,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

the slave of rulers,

“Kings shall see and stand up;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

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

Zion’s Children to Be Brought Home

⁸Thus says the Lord:

In a time of favor I have answered you;

on a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,^u

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages,^*

⁹saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They shall feed along the ways;

on all the bare heights^v shall be their pasture;^*

¹⁰they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,

for he who has pity on them will lead them

and by springs of water will guide them.^*

¹¹And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.^*

¹²Look, some shall come from far away,

some from the north and from the west,

and some from the land of Syene.^w*

¹³Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.^*

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

my Lord has forgotten me.”^*

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these might forget,

yet I will not forget you.^*

¹⁶See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.^*

¹⁷Your builders outdo your destroyers,^x

and those who laid you waste go away from you.^*

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around and see;

they all gather; they come to you.

As I live, says the Lord,

you shall put all of them on like an ornament,

and like a bride you shall bind them on.^*

¹⁹For your wastelands, your desolate places,

and your devastated land—

now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.^*

²⁰The children born in the time of your bereavement

will yet say in your hearing:

“The place is too crowded for me;

make room for me to settle.”^*

²¹Then you will say in your heart,

“Who has borne me these?

I was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away—

so who has reared these?

I was left all alone—

where, then, have these come from?”^*

²²Thus says the Lord God:

I will soon lift up my hand to the nations

and raise my signal to the peoples,

and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.^*

²³Kings shall be your foster fathers

and their queens your nursing mothers.

With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you

and lick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.^*

²⁴Can the prey be taken from the mighty

or the captives of a tyrant^y be rescued?

²⁵But thus says the Lord:

Even the captives of the mighty will be taken,

and the prey of the tyrant will be rescued,

for I will contend with those who contend with you,

and I will save your children.^*

²⁶I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know

that I am the Lord your Savior

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.^*

⁵⁰Thus says the Lord:

Where is your mother’s bill of divorce

with which I dismissed her?

Or which of my creditors is it

to whom I have sold you?

No, because of your sins you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was dismissed.^*

²Why was no one there when I came?

Why did no one answer when I called?

Is my arm powerless to redeem?

Or have I no strength to deliver?

By my rebuke I dry up the sea;

I make the rivers a desert,

so that their fish stink for lack of water

and die of thirst.^z*

³I clothe the heavens with blackness

and make sackcloth their covering.^*

The Servant’s Humiliation and Vindication

⁴The Lord God has given me

a trained tongue,^a

that I may know how to sustain

the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens,

wakens my ear

to listen as those who are taught.^*

⁵The Lord God has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious;

I did not turn backward.^*

⁶I gave my back to those who struck me

and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;

I did not hide my face

from insult and spitting.^*

⁷The Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame;^*

⁸he who vindicates me is near.

Who will contend with me?

Let us stand in court together.

Who are my adversaries?

Let them confront me.^*

⁹It is the Lord God who helps me;

who will declare me guilty?

All of them will wear out like a garment;

the moth will eat them up.^*

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the voice of his servant,

who walks in darkness

and has no light,

yet trusts in the name of the Lord

and relies upon his God?^*

¹¹But all of you are kindlers of fire,

lighters of firebrands.^b

Walk in the flame of your fire

and among the brands that you have kindled!

This is what you shall have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.^*