Isaiah 49:14-51:3
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh Remembers Zion
14 But[a] Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me!”
15 Can a woman forget her suckling,
refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb?
Indeed, these may forget,
but[b] I, I will not forget you!
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your children hasten;
your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart[c] from you.
18 Lift your eyes up all around and see;
all of them gather; they come to you.
As surely as I live,[d]
declares[e] Yahweh,
surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament,
and you shall bind them on like a bride.
19 Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,[f]
surely now you will be too cramped for your[g] inhabitants,[h]
and those who engulfed you will be far away.
20 Yet the children born when you were bereaved[i] will say in your hearing,[j]
“The place is too cramped for me;
make room[k] for me so that I can dwell.”
21 Then[l] you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne me these?”
And, “I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and thrust away;
so[m] who raised these?
Look at me! I was left alone;
where have these come from?”[n]
22 Thus says the Lord Yahweh:
“Look! I will lift my hand up to the nations,
and I will raise my signal to the peoples,
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.[o]
23 And kings shall be your guardians,[p]
and their queens your nurses.
They shall bow down, faces[q] to the ground, to you,
and they will lick up the dust of your feet.
Then[r] you will know that I am Yahweh;
those who await me shall not be ashamed.
24 Can war-booty be taken from the mighty?
or can a captive of a righteous[s] person be rescued?
25 But thus says Yahweh:
“Indeed a captive of the mighty shall be taken,
and the war-booty of the tyrant shall be rescued,
for[t] I myself will dispute with your opponent,
and I myself will save your children.
26 And I will feed your oppressors their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their blood as with wine.
Then[u] all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh,
your savior and redeemer, the strong one of Jacob.”
50 Thus says Yahweh:
“Where is this divorce document of your mother’s divorce, with which I dismissed her?
or to whom of my creditors did I sell you?
Look! you were sold because of your sin,
and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.
2 Why was there no man when I came,
no one who answered when I called?
Do I lack the strength to save?[v]
Or is there no power in me to deliver?
Look! by my rebuke I dry up the sea;
I make[w] the rivers a desert;
their fish stink because there is no water,
and they[x] die because of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with darkness,
and I make[y] their covering sackcloth.”
The Servant’s Vindication
4 The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of a pupil,
to know how to help the weary with a word.
He awakens morning by morning,[z]
awakens an ear for me to listen as do the pupils.
5 The Lord Yahweh has opened an ear for me,
and I, I was not rebellious.
I did not turn backwards;
6 I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;[aa]
I did not hide my face from insults and spittle.
7 And the Lord Yahweh helps me,
therefore I have not been put to shame;
therefore I have set my face like flint.
And I know that I shall not be ashamed;
8 he who obtains rights for me is near.
Who will contend with me? Let us stand together.
Who is the master of my judgment? Let him approach me.
9 Look! The Lord Yahweh helps me.
Who is the one who will declare me guilty?
Look! All of them will be worn out like a garment;
the moth will eat them.
10 Who among you is in fear of Yahweh,
obeys[ab] the voice of his servant?
Who walks in darkness
and has no light,
trusts in the name of Yahweh
and depends on his God?
11 Look! All of you are kindlers of fire,
who gird yourselves with flaming arrows.
Walk in the light of your fire,
and among the flaming arrows you have kindled!
You shall have this from my hand:
you shall lie down in[ac] a place of torment.
Yahweh Comforts Zion
51 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
who seek Yahweh.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried.
2 Look to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah; she brought you forth.
For I called him alone,[ad]
but[ae] I blessed him and made him numerous.”
3 For Yahweh will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all its sites of ruins.
And he will make[af] its wilderness like Eden,
and its desert like the garden of Yahweh.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
thanksgiving and the sound[ag] of song.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:14 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:15 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:17 Or “move away”
- Isaiah 49:18 Literally “Life I”
- Isaiah 49:18 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 49:19 Hebrew “ruin”
- Isaiah 49:19 Literally “cramped by”
- Isaiah 49:19 Hebrew “inhabitant”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “of your bereavement”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “ears”
- Isaiah 49:20 Literally “approach”
- Isaiah 49:21 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:21 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:21 Literally “these where they”
- Isaiah 49:22 Hebrew “shoulder”
- Isaiah 49:23 Literally “those who nurture”
- Isaiah 49:23 Literally “noses”
- Isaiah 49:23 Or “And”
- Isaiah 49:24 The Dead Sea Scroll has “violent”
- Isaiah 49:25 Or “and”
- Isaiah 49:26 Or “And”
- Isaiah 50:2 Literally “short is short my hand from redemption”
- Isaiah 50:2 Literally “put”
- Isaiah 50:2 Hebrew “she”
- Isaiah 50:3 Literally “put”
- Isaiah 50:4 Literally “in the morning in the morning”
- Isaiah 50:6 Literally “face”
- Isaiah 50:10 Or “listens”
- Isaiah 50:11 Or “to”
- Isaiah 51:2 Literally “one”
- Isaiah 51:2 Or “and”
- Isaiah 51:3 Literally “put”
- Isaiah 51:3 Literally “voice”
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