Israel’s Hope

50 The Lord says, “Where is the writing of your mother’s divorce, by which I have sent her away? To whom of those who owed Me money did I sell you? See, you were sold for your sins. For your wrong-doing your mother was sent away. ² Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot pay for your life? Have I no power to take you out of trouble? See, I dry up the sea with My sharp words. I make the rivers a desert. Their fish smell bad because they do not have enough water, and die of thirst. ³ I clothe the heavens with darkness. I make cloth made from hair its covering.”

⁴ The Lord God has given Me the tongue of those who follow Him, that I may know how to give strength when I speak to one who is tired. He wakes Me up morning by morning. He wakes up My ear to listen as a follower. ⁵ The Lord God has opened My ear, and I obeyed Him. I did not turn back. ⁶ I gave My back to those who hit Me, and My face to those who pull out the hair on my face. I did not cover My face from shame and spit. ⁷ For the Lord God helps Me, so I am not put to shame. I have set My face like hard stone, and know that I will not be ashamed. ⁸ He Who shows I am right is near. Who will fight with Me? Let us stand up to each other. Who has something against Me? Let him come near to Me. ⁹ See, the Lord God helps Me. Who will say that I am guilty? See, they will all wear out like a piece of clothing. The moth will eat them. ¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His Servant, yet walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and have faith in his God. ¹¹ See, all you who start a fire and put fire all around you! Walk in the light of your fire and among the pieces of wood you have started to burn. You will receive this from My hand: You will lie down in much suffering.

Comfort for Zion

51 “Listen to me, you who are following what is right and good, and who are looking for the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were cut out, and to the hole from which you were dug. ² Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain. When he was but one, I called him. Then I brought good to him and made him many.” ³ For the Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her desert like Eden, like the garden of the Lord. Joy and happiness will be found in her. There will be much giving of thanks and much singing.

⁴ “Listen to Me, O My people. Hear Me, O My nation. The Law will go out from Me and My Law will be a light to the people. ⁵ My being right and good is near. My saving power has gone out, and My arms will judge the people. The islands will wait for Me. They will trust with hope for My arm. ⁶ Lift up your eyes to the sky, and look to the earth below. For the sky will go away like smoke. And the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing and those who live in it will die like flies. But My saving power will be forever. My being right and good will not come to an end. ⁷ Listen to Me, you who know what is right and good, you people who have My Law in your hearts. Do not fear the shame of strong words from man. Do not be troubled when they speak against you. ⁸ For the moth will eat them like a piece of clothing. And the worm will eat them like wool. But My being right and good will be forever. My saving power will be to all children’s children to come.”

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the days of old, as You did with the people who lived long ago. Was it not You Who cut Rahab in pieces, and Who cut through the big dragon? ¹⁰ Was it not You Who dried up the sea, the deep waters, and Who made a path through the deep sea for Your saved people to cross over? ¹¹ So the people, for whom the Lord paid the price to be saved, will return. They will come with songs of joy to Zion. Joy that lasts forever will be on their heads. They will receive joy and happiness, and sorrow and sad voices will hurry away.

¹² “I, even I, am He Who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of a man who dies? Why are you afraid of the sons of men who are made like grass, ¹³ that you have forgotten the Lord Who made you? He spread out the heavens and put the earth in its place. Why do you live in fear all day long because of the anger of the one who makes it hard for you as he makes ready to destroy? But where is his anger? ¹⁴ The one in chains will soon be set free, and will not die in prison. And he will always have enough bread. ¹⁵ For I am the Lord your God, Who fills the sea with action so that its waves sound: The Lord of All is His name. ¹⁶ I have put My words in your mouth, and have covered you with the shadow of My hand. I spread out the heavens and put the earth in its place, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

No More Suffering for Jerusalem

¹⁷ Awake! awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger. You drank it down, and you had trouble walking. ¹⁸ There is no one to lead her among all the sons born of her. There is no one to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. ¹⁹ These two things have come upon you: Being laid waste and destroyed, hunger and the sword. Who will have sorrow for you? How can I comfort you? ²⁰ Your sons have become weak and have fallen down. They cannot help themselves and they lie at the top of every street, like a deer in a net. The Lord has poured out His anger and sharp words upon them.

²¹ So hear this, you who are suffering, who are drunk, but not with wine. ²² Your Lord, the Lord your God Who fights for His people, says, “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that makes you have trouble walking. You will never drink from the cup of My anger again. ²³ I will put it into the hand of those who make it hard for you, who have said to you, ‘Lie down that we may walk over you.’ You have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to walk over.”

God Saves Israel

52 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For those who have not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew and those who are unclean will not come into you any more. ² Shake off the dust. Rise up, O Jerusalem, who has been taken into prison. Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O chained people of Zion who are in prison. ³ For the Lord says, “You were sold for nothing, and you will be bought without money and made free.” ⁴ For the Lord God says, “My people went down at first to Egypt to live there. Then the Assyrian made it hard for them without a reason. ⁵ So now what do I have here,” says the Lord, “Seeing that My people have been taken away for no reason?” The Lord says, “Those who rule over them call out in a loud voice and My name is spoken against all day long. ⁶ So My people will know My name. In that day they will know that it is I Who says, ‘Here I am.’”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who tells of peace and brings good news of happiness, who tells of saving power, and says to Zion, “Your God rules!” ⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices. They call out together for joy, for they will see with their own eyes the return of the Lord to Zion. ⁹ Break out together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted His people. He has saved Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The Lord has shown His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see that our God saves.

¹¹ Leave, leave, go from them. Touch nothing that is unclean. Leave and make yourselves pure, you who carry the holy objects of the Lord. ¹² But you will not go out in a hurry. You will not leave as if you were running for your lives. For the Lord will go before you. And the God of Israel will keep watch behind you.

The Suffering Servant

¹³ See, My Servant will do well. He will be high and lifted up and honored very much. ¹⁴ Just as many looked in wonder at you, My people, so His face was marked worse than any man, and His body more than the sons of men. ¹⁵ He will surprise many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. What they had never been told about Him, they will see. And what they had never heard about Him, they will understand.