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50 Thus says the Lord:
Where is your mother’s bill of divorce
    with which I put her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
    to whom I have sold you?
No, because of your sins you were sold,
    and for your transgressions your mother was put away.
Why was no one there when I came?
    Why did no one answer when I called?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
    Or have I no power to deliver?
By my rebuke I dry up the sea,
    I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water,
    and die of thirst.[a]
I clothe the heavens with blackness,
    and make sackcloth their covering.

The Servant’s Humiliation and Vindication

The Lord God has given me
    the tongue of a teacher,[b]
that I may know how to sustain
    the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
    wakens my ear
    to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious,
    I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
    and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
    from insult and spitting.

The Lord God helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
    he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
    Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.

10 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness
    and has no light,
yet trusts in the name of the Lord
    and relies upon his God?
11 But all of you are kindlers of fire,
    lighters of firebrands.[c]
Walk in the flame of your fire,
    and among the brands that you have kindled!
This is what you shall have from my hand:
    you shall lie down in torment.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 50:2 Or die on the thirsty ground
  2. Isaiah 50:4 Cn: Heb of those who are taught
  3. Isaiah 50:11 Syr: Heb you gird yourselves with firebrands

50 (A)The Lord says,

“Do you think I sent my people away
    like a man who divorces his wife?
    Where, then, are the papers of divorce?
Do you think I sold you into captivity
    like a man who sells his children as slaves?
No, you went away captive because of your sins;
    you were sent away because of your crimes.

“Why did my people fail to respond
    when I went to them to save them?
Why did they not answer when I called?
Am I too weak to save them?
I can dry up the sea with a command
    and turn rivers into a desert,
    so that the fish in them die for lack of water.
I can make the sky turn dark,
    as if it were in mourning for the dead.”

The Obedience of the Lord's Servant

The Sovereign Lord has taught me what to say,
    so that I can strengthen the weary.
Every morning he makes me eager
    to hear what he is going to teach me.
The Lord has given me understanding,
    and I have not rebelled
    or turned away from him.
(B)I bared my back to those who beat me.
    I did not stop them when they insulted me,
    when they pulled out the hairs of my beard
    and spit in my face.

But their insults cannot hurt me
    because the Sovereign Lord gives me help.
I brace myself to endure them.
    I know that I will not be disgraced,
    (C)for God is near,
    and he will prove me innocent.
Does anyone dare bring charges against me?
    Let us go to court together!
    Let him bring his accusation!
The Sovereign Lord himself defends me—
    who, then, can prove me guilty?
All my accusers will disappear;
    they will vanish like moth-eaten cloth.

10 All of you that honor the Lord
    and obey the words of his servant,
the path you walk may be dark indeed,
    but trust in the Lord, rely on your God.
11 All of you that plot to destroy others
    will be destroyed by your own plots.
The Lord himself will make this happen;
    you will suffer a miserable fate.