Chapter 49

Salvation Reaches to the End of the Earth

1 Listen 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.

2 He 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.

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

bIn Whom I will 1show My glory.”

4 But 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.”

5 And 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),

6 He 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.”

7 Thus 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.”

8 Thus 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;

9 Saying 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.”

13 aShout 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

14 But 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?’ ”

22 Thus 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?”

25 Surely, 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

1 Thus 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.”

4 The 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.

5 The Lord God has aopened My ear;

And I was bnot disobedient

Nor did I turn back.

6 I 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.

7 For 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.

8 He 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.

9 Behold, 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.

10 Who 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.

11 Behold, 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.”

3 Indeed, 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 bearth 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.”

9 aAwake, 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?

10 Was 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?

11 So 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,

13 That 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.’ ”

17 aRouse 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.

18 There 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.

19 These two things have befallen you;

Who will mourn for you?

The adevastation and destruction, famine and sword;

How shall I comfort you?

20 Your 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.

21 Therefore, please hear this, you aafflicted,

Who are bdrunk, but not with wine:

22 Thus 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,

The 1chalice of My anger;

You will never drink it again.

23 “I will aput it into the hand of your tormentors,

Who have said to 1you, ‘bLie down that we may walk over you.’

You have even made your back like the ground

And like the street for those who walk over it.”