Isaiah 50:1-51:8
English Standard Version
Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience
50 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is (A)your mother's certificate of divorce,
with which (B)I sent her away?
Or (C)which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
(D)Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 (E)Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
(F)Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
(G)Behold, by my rebuke (H)I dry up the sea,
(I)I make the rivers a desert;
(J)their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 (K)I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The Lord God has given (L)me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that (M)I may know how to sustain with a word
(N)him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 (O)The Lord God has opened my ear,
(P)and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 (Q)I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
(R)therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 (S)He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9 (T)Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys (U)the voice of his servant?
(V)Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
(W)This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.
The Lord's Comfort for Zion
51 (X)“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for (Y)he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the Lord (Z)comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like (AA)Eden,
her desert like (AB)the garden of the Lord;
(AC)joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 (AD)“Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
(AE)for a law[a] will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 (AF)My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
(AG)the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 (AH)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
(AI)for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;[b]
(AJ)but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7 (AK)“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people (AL)in whose heart is my law;
(AM)fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 (AN)For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
(AO)but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 51:4 Or for teaching; also verse 7
- Isaiah 51:6 Or will die like gnats
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.