Isaiah 49-64

Tree of Life Version

⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and futility.
Yet surely the justice due to me is with Adonai,
and my reward with my God.”

⁵ So now says Adonai,
    who formed Me from the womb to be His servant,
to bring Jacob back to Him,
to gather Israel back to Him.
For I am honored in the eyes of Adonai
and My God has become my strength.
⁶ So He says,
“It is too trifling a thing that You should be My servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and restore the preserved ones of Israel.
So I will give You as a light for the nations,
    that You should be My salvation to the end of the earth.”^[a]
7 Thus says Adonai,
the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One,
to the One despised,^[b] to the One the nation abhors,
to a servant of rulers:
“Kings will see and arise,
    princes will also bow down,
because of Adonai who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

¹² “Behold, these shall come from afar.
behold, these from the north and from the west,
and from the land of Sinim.
¹³ Shout for joy, heavens!
Rejoice, earth!
Break forth into ringing shouts, O mountains!
For Adonai has comforted His people
and has compassion on His afflicted.”

¹⁴ But Zion said: “Adonai has forsaken me,
Adonai has forgotten me.”
¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing baby
or lack compassion for a child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
I will not forget you.
¹⁶ Behold, I have engraved you
    on the palms of My hands.
Your walls are continually before Me.
¹⁷ Your children will come quickly.
Your destroyers and devastators will go away from you.
¹⁸ Lift up your eyes around and see:
all of them will gather and come to you.”
“As I live”
—it is Adonai’s declaration—
“you will wear them all as jewelry
    and bind them on like a bride.”
¹⁹ For your waste and desolate places
and your destroyed land
    will now be surely too small for the inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
²⁰ The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears,
“The place is too cramped for me!
Make room for me to settle in.”
²¹ Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne these for me?
Wasn’t I bereaved of my children—
    barren, an exile and wandering?
So who has raised these?
Behold, I was left alone—
    these, where were they?”

²² Thus says Adonai Elohim:
“Look, I will lift My hand to the nations,
and raise My banner to the peoples!
They will bring your sons on their chest,
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
²³ Kings will be your guardians,
their princesses your nurses.
They will bow down to you with their face to the ground,
    and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am Adonai—
those hoping in Me will not be ashamed.”

²⁴ Can plunder be taken from the mighty,
or captives of the righteous freed?
²⁵ For thus says Adonai:
“Yes, captives of the mighty will be taken
and the prey of the tyrant will be freed.
For I will oppose your adversary.
I will save your children.
²⁶ I will feed your oppressors their flesh.
They will be drunk with their blood as with sweet wine.
Then all flesh will know
    that I, Adonai, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

¹¹ “Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
encircling yourselves with firebrands.
Walk in the light of your fire
    and among the brands you have lit.
This you will have from My hand:
    you will lie down in torment.”

³ For Adonai will comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her waste places.
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of Adonai.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
    thanksgiving and a sound of melody.

⁴ “Pay attention to Me, My people,
give ear to Me, My nation.
For Torah will go out from Me,
My justice as a light to the peoples.^[e]
5 My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone out,
and My arms will judge the nations.
The coastlands will wait for Me—
for My arm they will wait expectantly.
⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats,
but My salvation will be forever,
and My righteousness never wane.
⁷ Listen to Me, you who know justice,
a people with My Torah in their heart:
Do not fear the taunt of men,
nor be dismayed at their insults.
⁸ For the moth will eat them like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool.
But My righteousness will be forever
and My salvation for all generations.”

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of Adonai,
    awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago.
Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces,
    who pierced the dragon?
¹⁰ Was it not You who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a path
for the redeemed to pass over?

¹¹ Now the ransomed of Adonai will return,
and come to Zion with singing.
Everlasting joy will be upon their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

¹² “I, I am the One who comforts you.
Who are you that you should fear man,
    who dies, or a son of man,
    who is given up like grass?”

¹³ But you forgot Adonai your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Are you in constant dread all day
    because of the fury of the oppressor
    as he makes ready to destroy?
But where is the fury of the oppressor?
¹⁴ Soon one bowed down will be released.
He will not die and go to the Pit,
nor will his bread be lacking.

¹⁵ “For I am Adonai your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.
¹⁶ I have put My words in your mouth,
and covered you with the shadow of My hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

¹⁷ Awake, awake!
Stand up, Jerusalem!
From Adonai’s hand you have drunk the cup of His fury,
    the chalice of reeling
that you have drained to the dregs.

¹⁸ There is none to guide her
    among all the sons she has borne,
nor is there one to take her by the hand
    among all the sons she has raised.

¹⁹ These two things have befallen you
—who will mourn for you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and the sword.
How will I comfort you?
²⁰ Your sons have fainted.
They lie at every street corner,
    like an antelope in a net.
They are full of Adonai’s fury,
    the rebuke of your God.
²¹ Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine.
²² Thus says your Lord, Adonai your God who defends His people:
    “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of reeling,
    the bowl of My wrath.
    You will never drink it again.
²³ Then I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we may walk over you.’
You have made your back like the ground
    and like a street for passersby.

³ For thus says Adonai:
“You were sold for nothing.
So you will be redeemed without silver.”
⁴ For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“At first My people went down to Egypt to reside there,
    then the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.
⁵ “Now therefore, what do I have here?”
—it is a declaration of Adonai—
“My people are taken away for nothing?
Its rulers wail”
—it is Adonai’s declaration—
“and My Name is continually blasphemed all day long.^[f]
6 Therefore My people will know My Name.
Therefore in that day,
    I am the One who will be saying, ‘Hineni!’”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are
the feet of him who brings good news,
who announces shalom,
who brings good news of happiness,^[g]
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
⁸ The voice of your watchmen—they will lift up their voices.
Together they are shouting for joy!
For they will see eye to eye
    when Adonai returns to Zion.
⁹ Break forth in joy, sing together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for Adonai has comforted His people.
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰ Adonai has bared His holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations.
All the ends of the earth will see
    the salvation of our God.^[h]

¹¹ Leave, leave! Get out of there!
Touch no unclean thing.
Go out of her midst. Purify yourselves,
    you who carry the vessels of Adonai.
¹² For you will not go out in haste,
nor will you go in flight,
for Adonai will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

⁶ We all like sheep have gone astray.
Each of us turned to his own way.
So Adonai has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted
yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter,^[n]
like a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so He did not open His mouth.^[o]
8 Because of oppression and judgment He was taken away.
As for His generation, who considered?
For He was cut off from the land of the living,
for the transgression of my people—
the stroke was theirs
⁹ His grave was given with the wicked,
and by a rich man in His death,^[p]
though He had done no violence,
nor was there any deceit in His mouth.^[q]

¹⁰ Yet it pleased Adonai to bruise Him.
He caused Him to suffer.
If He makes His soul a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,
and the will of Adonai will succeed by His hand.
¹¹ As a result of the anguish of His soul
He will see it and be satisfied by His knowledge.
The Righteous One, My Servant will make many righteous
    and He will bear their iniquities.^[r]
12 Therefore I will give Him a portion with the great,
and He will divide the spoil with the mighty—
because He poured out His soul to death,
    and was counted with transgressors.^[s]
For He bore the sin of many,
    and interceded for the transgressors.^[t]

⁶ Seek Adonai while He may be found,
call on Him while He is near.^[w]
7 Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous one his thoughts,
let him return to Adonai, so He may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways My ways.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ For as the rain and snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return there
    without having watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to sow and bread to eat,
¹¹ so My word will be that goes out from My mouth.
It will not return to Me in vain,
but will accomplish what I intend,
and will succeed in what I sent it for.

¹² “Yes, you will go out with joy
and be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills
    will break forth before you singing,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands!
¹³ Instead of the thorn bush, a cypress will come up,
and instead of the brier, a myrtle will come up,
and it will be a memorial to Adonai,
as an everlasting sign
that will never be cut off.”

⁹ All you beasts of the field, come to eat,
all you beasts in the forest.
¹⁰ His watchmen are all blind.
All of them know nothing.
All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,
dreamers lying down, lovers of slumber,
¹¹ and the dogs are greedy—
    they never have enough.
They are shepherds with no discernment.
They have all turned to their own way,
    each to his own gain, one and all.
¹² “Come, let’s get wine, let’s guzzle strong drink.
Tomorrow will be like today,
    only even better!”

⁴ Whom are you mocking?
At whom do you open your mouth wide
    and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
    offspring of deceit?
⁵ You who burn with lust among the oaks
    and under every green tree,
who sacrifice your children in the wadis
    and under the clefts of the rocks?
⁶ Among the smooth stones of the wadi is your portion—
they are your lot.
To them you have even poured out a drink offering,
made a grain offering.
Shall I relent concerning these things?
⁷ Upon a high and lofty mountain you made your bed.
You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
⁸ Behind the door and the doorpost
you have set up your memorial sign.
For away from Me, you uncovered,
    went up and made your bed wide,
    and cut covenant with them.
You loved their bed—
    you looked on their nakedness.
⁹ You journeyed to the king with oil
and multiplied your perfumes.
You sent your ambassadors far away,
and made them go down to Sheol.
¹⁰ You wearied of the length of your way,
    yet you did not say, “It is hopeless!”
You found renewed strength,
    so you did not weaken.
¹¹ “Whom was it you dreaded and feared,
    so that you lied.
But you did not remember Me
    or take it to heart?
Have I not kept silent a long time—
    yet you do not fear Me?
¹² I will expose your ‘righteousness’, and your deeds—
they will not profit you.
¹³ When you cry out,
    will your collection of idols save you?
The wind will carry them off,
    a breath will take them away.
But he who takes refuge in Me
    will possess the land,
    and will inherit My holy mountain.”

¹⁴ Then it will be said:
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every stumbling block out of the way of My people.”

¹⁵ For thus says the High and Exalted One
    who inhabits eternity, whose Name is Holy:
“I dwell in a high and holy place,
yet also with a contrite and humble spirit,
    to revive the spirit of the humble,
    and revive the heart of the contrite.
¹⁶ For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry,
for the spirit would grow weak before Me,
    the breath of those whom I made.
¹⁷ Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry;
I struck him; I hid My face; I was angry—
    but he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
¹⁸ I have seen his ways, but I will heal him.
I will lead him and restore comfort to him
    and his mourners.
¹⁹ Creating the praise of lips:
‘Shalom, shalom to him who is far and to him who is near,’
    says Adonai, ‘and I will heal him.’”

²⁰ But the wicked are like a troubled sea,
for it cannot rest,
and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
²¹ “There is no shalom,” says my God
“for the wicked.”

³ “Why have we fasted.
yet You do not see?
Why have we afflicted our souls,
yet You take no notice?”

“Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and exploit all your laborers.
⁴ Behold, you fast for strife and contention
and to strike with a wicked fist.
You should not fast as you do today
to make your voice heard on high.
⁵ Is this the fast I have chosen?
    A day for one to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and spreading out sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast
    and a day acceptable to Adonai?

⁶ “Is not this the fast I choose:
to release the bonds of wickedness,
to untie the cords of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to tear off every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the homeless poor into your house?
When you see the naked, to cover him,
and not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will spring up speedily.
Your righteousness will go before you,
the glory of Adonai as your rear guard.”
⁹ Then you will call, and Adonai will answer.
You will cry and He will say, “Here I am.”
If you get rid of the yoke among you—
finger-pointing and badmouthing—
¹⁰ If you give yourself to the hungry,
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then your light will rise in darkness,
and your gloom will be like midday.
¹¹ Then Adonai will guide you continually,
    satisfy your soul in drought
    and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water whose waters never fail.
¹² Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins,
will raise up the age-old foundations,
will be called Repairer of the Breach,
    Restorer of Streets for Dwelling.
¹³ If you turn back your foot from Shabbat,
from doing your pleasure on My holy day,
and call Shabbat a delight,
    the holy day of Adonai honorable,
If you honor it, not going your own ways,
    not seeking your own pleasure,
    nor speaking your usual speech,
¹⁴ then You will delight yourself in Adonai,
and I will let you ride over the heights of the earth,
I will feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of Adonai has spoken.

⁹ That is why justice is far from us
and righteousness does not reach us.
We hope for light, but behold darkness,
    for brightness, but walk in gloom.
¹⁰ We grope along the wall like the blind.
We grope like those with no eyes.
We stumble at noon as at twilight.
We are like the dead in desolation.
¹¹ All of us growl like bears
    or moan like doves.
We hope for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
and our sins testify against us,
for our transgressions are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
¹³ transgressing and denying Adonai,
    turning back from following our God,
    speaking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.
¹⁴ Justice is turned back,
    and righteousness stands far off.
For truth has stumbled in the street,
    and uprightness cannot enter.
¹⁵ So now truth is missing,
and whoever shuns evil becomes prey.

Now when Adonai saw it, it was displeasing in His eyes
    that there was no justice.
¹⁶ He saw that there was no one—
He was astonished that no one was interceding.^[ab]
Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him,
and His righteousness upheld Him.
¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on His head.
He clothed Himself in robes of vengeance
and wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak.
¹⁸ According to their deeds,
    so He will repay:
wrath to His adversaries,
    retribution to His enemies.
To the islands He will repay as due.
¹⁹ So from the west they will fear the Name of Adonai,
and His glory from the rising of the sun.
For He will come like a rushing stream
    driven along by the Ruach Adonai.

²⁰ “But a Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.

⁸ Who are these who fly like a cloud,
like doves to their windows?
⁹ Surely the islands will hope in Me,
with the ships of Tarshish in the lead,
to bring your sons from afar,
    their silver and gold with them,
for the Name of Adonai your God,
    and for the Holy One of Israel,
    because He has glorified you.
¹⁰ Foreigners will build up your walls,
and their kings will minister to you.
For in My fury I struck you,
but in My favor I will show you mercy.
¹¹ Your gates will be open continually.
They will not be shut day or night,
so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
    with their kings led in procession.
¹² For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish—
those nations will be utterly ruined.
¹³ The glory of Lebanon will come to you
—cypress, elm and pine together—
to beautify the place of My Sanctuary.
I will give to the place of My feet glory.
¹⁴ The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you,
and all those who despised you will fall at the soles of your feet.
They will call you the city of Adonai,
    Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵ Instead of deserted and hated,
    no one passing through,
I will make you an eternal pride,
    joy from generation to generation.
¹⁶ You will also suck the milk of nations
and nurse at the breast of kings.
Then you will know that I, Adonai, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
¹⁷ “Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
instead of iron I will bring silver,
instead of wood, bronze,
and instead of stones, iron.
I will make shalom your overseer,
and righteousness your taskmasters.
¹⁸ No more will violence be heard in your land,
    devastation nor destruction within your borders.
But you will call your walls Salvation
    and your gates Praise.
¹⁹ No more will the sun be your light by day,
nor the glow of the moon be your light,
but Adonai will be your everlasting light,
and your God for your glory.^[ae]
20 No more will your sun set,
    nor will your moon wane,
for Adonai will be your everlasting light,
    as the days of your mourning end.^[af]
21 Then your people will all be righteous.
They will possess the land forever—
the branch of His planting,
    the work of My hands—
that I may be glorified.
²² The smallest will become a thousand,
    and the least a mighty nation.
I, Adonai, will hasten it in its time.”

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins.
They will restore former desolations.
They will repair the ruined cities,
the desolations of many generations.
⁵ Strangers will stand and shepherd your flocks,
children of foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.
⁶ But you will be called the kohanim of Adonai,
They will speak of you as the ministers of our God.
You will eat the wealth of nations
    and boast in their abundance.

⁷ Instead of your shame, double portion.
instead of disgrace they will sing for joy.
Therefore in their land they will inherit a double portion;
    they will have everlasting joy.
⁸ For I, Adonai, love justice.
I hate robbery in the burnt offering.
In faithfulness I will reward My people
and cut an eternal covenant with them.
⁹ Then their offspring will be known among the nations,
their descendants among the peoples.
All who see them will recognize them,
    for they are the seed that Adonai has blessed.

¹⁰ I will rejoice greatly in Adonai.
My soul will be joyful in my God.
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me in a robe of righteousness—
like a bridegroom wearing a priestly turban,
like a bride adorning herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes things sown to spring up,
so Adonai Elohim will cause justice and praise
    to spring up before all the nations.

⁶ On your walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen.
All day and all night, they will never hold their peace.
“You who remind Adonai,
    take no rest for yourselves,
⁷ And give Him no rest until He establishes
    and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

⁸ Adonai has sworn by His right hand
    and by His strong arm:
“Surely I will never again give your grain
    as food for your enemies,
nor will foreigners drink your new wine,
    for which you have labored.
⁹ But those who have garnered it will eat it
    and praise Adonai,
and those who have gathered it
    will drink it in the courts of My Sanctuary.”

¹⁰ Go through, go through the gates.
Clear the way for the people!
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Lift up a banner over the peoples.
¹¹ Behold, Adonai has proclaimed
    to the end of the earth:
Say to the Daughter of Zion,
“Behold, your salvation comes!
See, His reward is with Him,
    and His recompense before Him.”^[aj]
12 Then they will call them The Holy People,
    The Redeemed of Adonai,
and you will be called, Sought Out,
    A City Not Forsaken.

“It is I who speak in righteousness,
    mighty to save.”

² “Why is Your apparel so red,
and Your garments like one who treads in a wine press?”^[ak]

³ “I have trodden the winepress alone—
from the peoples, no man was with Me.
I trod them in My anger,
    and trampled them in My wrath.
Their lifeblood spattered My garments,
    so I stained all My robes.
⁴ For a day of vengeance was in My heart,
and My year of redemption has come.
⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help.
I was amazed, but no one was assisting.
So My own arm won victory for Me,
    and My wrath upheld Me.
⁶ So I trod down the peoples in My anger,
and made them drunk in My wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood^[al] on the earth.”

⁸ For He said, “Surely they are My people,
children who will not deal falsely.”
So He became their Savior.
⁹ In all their affliction He was afflicted.
So the angel of His presence saved them.
In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them,
then He lifted them and carried them
    all the days of old.
¹⁰ But they rebelled,
and grieved His Ruach ha-Kodesh.
So He turned to become their enemy.
He Himself fought against them.
¹¹ Then His people remembered the days of old,
the days of Moses:
“Where is He who brought them through the sea
    with the shepherd of His flock?
    Where is He who put among them
        His Ruach ha-Kodesh?
¹² Who caused His glorious arm to go
    at the right hand of Moses?
Who divided the waters before them—
    to make Himself a Name forever?
¹³ Who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
    they did not stumble.
¹⁴ Like cattle that go down into a valley,
the Ruach Adonai gave them rest.
So You led Your people,
    to make Yourself a glorious Name.
¹⁵ Look down from heaven and see
from Your holy, glorious, lofty abode.
Where are Your zeal and mighty deeds?
Are the yearnings of Your heart,
    Your compassions, withheld from me?
¹⁶ For You are our Father—
even if Abraham would not know us
    or Israel not recognize us.
You, Adonai, are our Father, our Redeemer—
    from everlasting is Your Name.
¹⁷ Adonai, why do You cause us to stray from Your ways,
and harden our heart from fearing You?
Return for Your servants’ sake,
    the tribes of Your heritage.
¹⁸ Briefly Your holy people possessed it—
our foes have trampled Your Sanctuary.
¹⁹ We have become like those over whom^[am]
    You have never ruled,
like those not called by Your Name.

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at Your presence!