Beginning

49 “Hear Me, O isles! And listen, you people from afar! The LORD has called Me from the womb and made mention of My Name from My mother’s belly.

² “And He has made My Mouth like a sharp sword. Under the shadow of His Hand has He hidden Me and made Me a chosen Shaft, hidden Me in His quiver,

³ “and said to Me, ‘You are My Servant, Israel, for I will be glorious in You.’

⁴ “And I said, ‘I have labored in vain. I have spent My strength in vain and for nothing. But My judgment is with the LORD, and My work with My God.’

⁵ “‘And now,’ says the LORD (Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, so that I may bring Jacob back to him, though Israel is not gathered. I shall still be glorious in the eyes of the LORD. And My God shall be My strength),

⁶ “indeed He said, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the desolations of Israel. I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, so that You may be My Salvation to the ends of the world.’”

⁷ Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, to Him Who is despised in soul, to a nation that is abhorred, to a Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise. And princes shall worship because of the LORD, Who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, Who has chosen You.”

⁸ Thus says the LORD: “In an acceptable time have I heard You. And on a Day of Salvation have I helped You. And I will preserve You, and will give You as a Covenant to the people, so that You may raise up the Earth and obtain the inheritance of the desolate heritages,

⁹ “so that You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ and to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They shall feed along the ways. And their pastures shall be on all the tops of the hills.

¹⁰ “They shall not be hungry, nor shall they be thirsty, nor shall the heat strike them, nor the Sun. For He Who has compassion on them, shall lead them. Even by the springs of water shall He drive them.

¹¹ “And I will make all My mountains as a way. And My paths shall be exalted.

¹² “Behold, these shall come from far away. And lo, these from the North and from the West, and these from the land of Sinim.”

¹³ Rejoice, O heavens! And be joyful, O Earth! Burst forth into praise, O mountains! For God has comforted His people and will have mercy upon His afflicted!

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me. And my LORD has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even if they should forget, yet will I not forget you.

¹⁶ “Behold, I have carved you upon the palms of My Hands. Your walls are always in My sight.

¹⁷ “Your builders hurry. Your destroyers and those who made you a wasteland, have departed from you.

¹⁸ “Lift up your eyes all around and look. All these gather themselves together and come to you, as I live,’ says the LORD. “You shall surely put them all upon you as a garment and gird yourself with them like a bride.

¹⁹ “For your desolations and your wastelands, and your destroyed land, shall surely now be too cramped for those who shall dwell in it. And those who devour you shall be far away.

²⁰ “The children of your barrenness shall say again in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me. Give me a place in which I may dwell.’

²¹ “Then shall you say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten me these, seeing I am barren and desolate, a captive and a wanderer to and fro? And who has nourished them? Behold, I was left alone. From where have these come?’”

²² Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, I will lift up My Hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people. And they shall bring your sons in their arms. And your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.

²³ “And kings shall be your nursing fathers. And queens shall be your nurses. They shall bow down to you with their faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am the LORD. For those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.

²⁴ “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the just’s captivity delivered?”

²⁵ But thus says the LORD: “Even the captivity of the mighty shall be taken away. And the prey of the tyrant shall be delivered. For I will contend with him who contends with you. And I will save your children,

²⁶ “and will feed those who plunder you with their own flesh. And they shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

50 Thus says the LORD: “Where is that bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have cast off? Or, who is the creditor to whom I sold you? Behold, you are sold for your iniquities. And your mother is forsaken because of your transgressions.

² “Why was there no man when I came, and no one to answer when I called? Is My Hand so shortened that it cannot help? Or, have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.

³ “I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth their covering.”

⁴ The Lord GOD has given me a tongue of the learned, so that I should know how to minister a timely word to him who is weary. He will raise me up in the morning. In the morning He will awaken my ear to hear, as the learned.

⁵ The Lord GOD has opened my ear and I was not rebellious. Nor did I turn back.

⁶ I gave my back to the those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.

⁷ For the Lord GOD will help me. Therefore, I shall not be confounded. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint. And I know that I shall not be ashamed.

⁸ He Who justifies me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me.

⁹ Behold, the Lord GOD will help me. Who is he who can condemn me? Lo, they shall grow old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up.

¹⁰ Who is among you who fears the LORD? Let him hear the voice of His servant. He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in the Name of the LORD and rely upon his God.

¹¹ “Behold, all you who kindle a fire and are surrounded with sparks. Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have from My Hand: You shall lie down in sorrow.”

51 “Hear Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug.

² “Consider Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who bore you. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.”

³ Surely the LORD shall comfort Zion. He shall comfort all her desolations, and He shall make her wastelands like Eden, and her wilderness like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness, praise, and the voice of singing shall be found therein.

⁴ “Listen to Me, My people. And give ear to Me, O My people. For a Law shall proceed from Me. And I will bring forth My Judgment for the light of the people.

⁵ My righteousness is near. My salvation goes forth. And My Arm shall judge the people. The isles shall wait for Me, and shall trust in My Arm.

⁶ “Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the Earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke. And the Earth shall grow old like a garment. And those who dwell therein shall perish in the same way. But My salvation shall be forever. And My righteousness shall not be abolished.

⁷ “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My Law. Do not fear the reproach of men or be afraid of their rebukes.

⁸ “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment. And the worm shall eat them like wood. But My righteousness shall be forever. And My salvation from generation to generation.”

⁹ Rise up! Rise up and put on strength, O Arm of the LORD! Rise up, as long ago in the generations of the world. Are not You the same One Who has cut Rahab to pieces and wounded the dragon?

¹⁰ Are not You the same One Who has dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, making the depth of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

¹¹ Therefore, the redeemed of the LORD shall return and come with joy to Zion. And everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

¹² “I, even I, Am He Who comforts you. Who are you that you should fear a mortal man, and the son of man, who shall be made like grass?

¹³ “And you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker—Who has spread out the heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth—and you have feared continually, all day, because of the rage of the oppressor who is ready to destroy. Where is the rage of the oppressor now?

¹⁴ “The captive’s exile hastens, so that he may be freed and not die in the pit and that his bread would not fail.

¹⁵ “And I am the LORD your God, Who divided the sea when its waves roared. The LORD of Hosts is His Name.

¹⁶ “And I have put My Words in your mouth and have defended you in the shadow of My Hand, so that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundation of the Earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

¹⁷ Awaken! Awaken and stand up, O Jerusalem, who has drunk the cup of the LORD’s wrath from His Hand. You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.

¹⁸ There is no one to guide her among all her sons whom she has brought forth. There is no one who takes her by the hand, of all the sons whom she has brought up.

¹⁹ These two things have come to you. Who will lament you? Desolation and destruction and famine and the sword, by whom shall I comfort you?

²⁰ Your sons have fainted and lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net. They are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

²¹ Therefore, now hear this, you miserable and drunken (but not with wine).

²² Thus says your LORD God, even God Who pleads the cause of His people, “Behold, I have taken the cup of trembling out of your hand, the dregs of the cup of My wrath. You shall drink it no more.

²³ “But I will put it into the hand of those who plunder you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down so that we may go over.’ And you have laid your body down as the ground, and as the streets, to those who went over.”

52 Arise! Arise! Put on your strength, O Zion! Put on the garments of your beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy City. For henceforth, the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come into you.

² Shake yourself from the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loosen the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter Zion!

³ For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing. Therefore, you shall be redeemed without money.”

⁴ For thus says the Lord GOD: “At first, My people went down into Egypt to sojourn there. And

⁵ “Now, therefore, what do I have here,” says the LORD, “that My people are taken away for nothing? And those who rule over them make them howl,” says the LORD, “And My Name is continually blasphemed, all day long.

⁶ “Therefore, My people shall know My Name. Therefore, they shall know on that day that I Am He Who speaks, ‘Behold, it is I.’”

⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who declares and publishes peace, who declares good tidings and publishes salvation, saying to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

⁸ The voice of your watchmen shall be heard. They shall lift up their voices and shout together. For they shall see eye to eye when the LORD shall restore Zion.

⁹ O, you desolate places of Jerusalem, be glad and rejoice together! For the LORD has comforted His people! He has redeemed Jerusalem!

¹⁰ The LORD has made His Holy Arm bare in the sight of all the Gentiles. And all the ends of the Earth shall see the salvation of our God.

¹¹ Depart! Depart! Go out from there and touch no unclean thing! Go out of the midst of her. Be clean, you who bear the vessels of the LORD.

¹² For you shall not go out with haste or depart by fleeing away. But the LORD will go before you. And the God of Israel will gather you together.

¹⁴ “Just as many were astonished at you, His appearance was more deformed than any other man, and His form more than the sons of men. So shall He sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths at Him. For that which had not been told to them, they shall see. And that which they had not heard, they shall understand.”

53 Who will believe our report? And to whom is the Arm of the LORD revealed?

² But He shall grow up before Him as a branch, and as a root out of a dry ground. He has neither form nor beauty. When we shall see Him, there shall be no form that would cause us to desire Him.

³ He is despised and rejected by men. He is a man full of sorrows and acquainted with sickness. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

⁴ Surely, He has born our sickness and carried our sorrows. Yet, we judged Him as touched and stricken by God, and humbled.

⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was broken for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed.

⁶ All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned, every one, to his own way. And the LORD has laid the iniquity of us all upon Him.

⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted. Yet, He did not open His Mouth. He is brought as a sheep to the slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so He did not open His Mouth.

⁸ He was taken out from prison, and from judgment. And who shall declare His age? For He was cut out of the land of the living. For He was plagued for the transgression of my people.

⁹ And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich, in His death. Though He had done no wickedness. Nor was any deceit in His Mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to break Him and make Him endure grief, when He shall make His soul an Offering for sin. He shall see His seed and shall prolong His days. And the will of the LORD shall prosper in His Hand.

¹¹ He shall see the labor of His soul and shall be satisfied. “By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many. For He shall bear their iniquities.

¹² “Therefore, I will give him a portion with the great. And He shall divide the plunder with the strong, because He has poured out His soul until death. And He was counted with the transgressors. And He bore the sin of many, and prayed for the trespassers.”