Isaiah 50:1-6

Common English Bible

50 The Lord says:
Where’s your mother’s divorce decree,
    with which I sent her away?
Or to which lender did I sell you?
    On account of your sins you were sold;
    on account of your transgressions
    your mother was sent away.
²Why did I come and find no one?
    Why did I call when no one answered?
Is my hand too small to redeem you?^[a]
    Don’t I have enough power to save?
With my rebuke I dry up the sea
    and make the rivers into wilderness.
Their fish stink from lack of water;
    they die of thirst.
³I clothe the heavens with darkness
    and cover them with funeral clothing.

God’s faithful servant

⁴The Lord God gave me an educated tongue
    to know how to respond to the weary
    with a word that will awaken them in the morning.^[b]
    God awakens my ear in the morning to listen,
    as educated people do.
⁵The Lord God opened my ear;
    I didn’t rebel; I didn’t turn my back.
⁶Instead, I gave my body to attackers,
    and my cheeks to beard pluckers.
I didn’t hide my face
    from insults and spitting.