Isaiah 49:25-51:7

English Standard Version

²⁵For thus says the Lord:
^(A)“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
    and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
    and I will save your children.
²⁶^(B)I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
    and they shall be drunk ^(C)with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
    that ^(D)I am the Lord your Savior,
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience

50 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is ^(E)your mother's certificate of divorce,
    with which ^(F)I sent her away?
Or ^(G)which of my creditors is it
    to whom I have sold you?
^(H)Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
    and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
²^(I)Why, when I came, was there no man;
    why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
^(J)Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
    Or have I no power to deliver?
^(K)Behold, by my rebuke ^(L)I dry up the sea,
    ^(M)I make the rivers a desert;
^(N)their fish stink for lack of water
    and die of thirst.
³^(O)I clothe the heavens with blackness
    and make sackcloth their covering.”

⁴The Lord God has given ^(P)me
    the tongue of those who are taught,
that ^(Q)I may know how to sustain with a word
    ^(R)him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
    he awakens my ear
    to hear as those who are taught.
⁵^(S)The Lord God has opened my ear,
    ^(T)and I was not rebellious;
    I turned not backward.
⁶^(U)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.

⁷But the Lord God helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
^(V)therefore I have set my face like a flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
⁸    ^(W)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^(X)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.

¹⁰Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys ^(Y)the voice of his servant?
^(Z)Let him who walks in darkness
    and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on his God.
¹¹Behold, 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!
^(AA)This you have from my hand:
    you shall lie down in torment.

The Lord's Comfort for Zion

51 ^(AB)“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.
²Look to Abraham your father
    and to Sarah who bore you;
for ^(AC)he was but one when I called him,
    that I might bless him and multiply him.
³For the Lord ^(AD)comforts Zion;
    he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like ^(AE)Eden,
    her desert like ^(AF)the garden of the Lord;
^(AG)joy and gladness will be found in her,
    thanksgiving and the voice of song.

⁴^(AH)“Give attention to me, my people,
    and give ear to me, my nation;
^(AI)for a law^[a] will go out from me,
    and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
⁵^(AJ)My righteousness draws near,
    my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will judge the peoples;
^(AK)the coastlands hope for me,
    and for my arm they wait.
⁶^(AL)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
    and look at the earth beneath;
^(AM)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]
^(AN)but my salvation will be forever,
    and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

⁷^(AO)“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people ^(AP)in whose heart is my law;
^(AQ)fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.