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Isaiah 49-53 (Listen)

• Isaiah 48
• Isaiah 49–53
• Isaiah 54

The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen to me, kO coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples lfrom afar.

mThe Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name.

2 nHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;

oin the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow;

in his quiver he hid me away.

3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, pin whom I will be glorified.”1

4 qBut I said, “I have labored in vain;

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the Lord,

and my recompense with my God.”

5 rAnd now the Lord says,

he mwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for sI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength—

6 he says:

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to bring back the preserved of Israel;

tI will make you uas a light for the nations,

that vmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7 Thus says the Lord,

wthe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

xto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

y“Kings shall see and arise;

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

The Restoration of Israel

8 Thus says the Lord:

z“In a atime of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you band give you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

cto apportion the desolate heritages,

9 dsaying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

eThey shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture;

10 fthey shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them gwill lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

11 hAnd I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

12 iBehold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, jthese from the north and from the west,2

and these from the land of Syene.”3

13 kSing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord lhas comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

14 But Zion said, m“The Lord has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”

15 n“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

16 Behold, oI have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me.

17 Your builders make haste;4

pyour destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.

18 qLift up your eyes around and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

rAs I live, declares the Lord,

syou shall put them all on as an ornament;

you shall bind them on as a bride does.

19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places

and your devastated land—

tsurely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,

and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20 uThe children of your bereavement

will yet say in your ears:

t‘The place is too narrow for me;

make room for me to dwell in.’

21 Then you will say in your heart:

‘Who has borne me these?

uI was bereaved and barren,

exiled and put away,

but who has brought up these?

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 nations,

vand raise my signal to the peoples;

wand they shall bring your sons in their arms,5

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23 xKings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

yWith their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,

and zlick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

athose who wait for me bshall not be put to shame.”

24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,

or the captives of a tyrant6 be rescued?

25 For thus says the Lord:

c“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 dI will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk ewith their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know

that fI 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 gyour mother's certificate of divorce,

with which hI sent her away?

Or iwhich of my creditors is it

to whom I have sold you?

jBehold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2 kWhy, when I came, was there no man;

why, when I called, was there no one to answer?

lIs my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

mBehold, by my rebuke nI dry up the sea,

oI make the rivers a desert;

ptheir fish stink for lack of water

and die of thirst.

3 qI clothe the heavens with blackness

and make sackcloth their covering.”

4 The Lord God has given rme

the tongue of those who are taught,

that sI may know how to sustain with a word

thim who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.

5 uThe Lord God has opened my ear,

vand I was not rebellious;

I turned not backward.

6 wI 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.

7 But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

xtherefore I have set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

8 yHe 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 zBehold, 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.

10 Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys athe voice of his servant?

bLet him who walks in darkness

and has no light

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.

11 Behold, 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!

cThis you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment.

The Lord's Comfort for Zion

51 d“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.

2 Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for ehe was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

3 For the Lord fcomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and makes her wilderness like gEden,

her desert like hthe garden of the Lord;

ijoy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

4 j“Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

kfor a law7 will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

5 lMy righteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

mthe coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait.

6 nLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

ofor the heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;8

pbut my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

7 q“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people rin whose heart is my law;

sfear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

8 tFor the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool;

pbut my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.”

9 uAwake, awake, vput on strength,

O warm of the Lord;

awake, xas in days of old,

the generations of long ago.

Was it not you who cut yRahab in pieces,

who pierced zthe dragon?

10 aWas it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to pass over?

11 bAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain gladness and joy,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12 “I, I am he cwho comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of dman who dies,

of the son of man who is made elike grass,

13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

fwho stretched out the heavens

and glaid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of hthe oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of hthe oppressor?

14 iHe who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down jto the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking.

15 I am the Lord your God,

kwho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the Lord of hosts is his name.

16 lAnd I have put my words in your mouth

mand covered you in the shadow of my hand,

nestablishing9 the heavens

and olaying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

17 pWake yourself, wake yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

qyou who have drunk from the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl, rthe cup of staggering.

18 sThere is none to guide her

among all the sons she has borne;

there is none to take her by the hand

among all the sons she has brought up.

19 tThese two things have happened to you—

who will console you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you?10

20 uYour sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an vantelope win a net;

they are full of the wrath of the Lord,

the rebuke of your God.

21 xTherefore hear this, you who are afflicted,

who are drunk, but not with wine:

22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord,

your God ywho pleads the cause of his people:

“Behold, I have taken from your hand rthe cup of staggering;

the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;

23 zand I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

awho have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and byou have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.”

The Lord's Coming Salvation

52 cAwake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

dput on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, ethe holy city;

ffor there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean.

2 gShake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

hloose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus says the Lord: i“You were sold for nothing, and jyou shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: k“My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.11 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and lcontinually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. mTherefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

7 nHow beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, owho brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

8 The voice of pyour watchmen—they lift up their voice;

together they sing for joy;

qfor eye to eye they see

the return of the Lord to Zion.

9 rBreak forth together into singing,

syou waste places of Jerusalem,

for tthe Lord has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem.

10 uThe Lord has bared his holy arm

before the eyes of all the nations,

vand all the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.

11 wDepart, depart, go out from there;

touch no unclean thing;

go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,

xyou who bear the vessels of the Lord.

12 For you shall not ygo out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

zfor the Lord will go before you,

aand the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions

13 Behold, bmy servant shall act wisely;12

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

14 As many were astonished at you—

chis appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

15 so dshall he sprinkle13 many nations;

ekings shall shut their mouths because of him;

ffor that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

53 gWho has believed what he has heard from us?14

And to whom has hthe arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

iand like a root out of dry ground;

jhe had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 kHe was despised and rejected15 by men;

a man of sorrows,16 and acquainted with17 grief;18

and as one from whom men hide their faces19

he was despised, and lwe esteemed him not.

4 mSurely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

nsmitten by God, and afflicted.

5 oBut he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

pand with his wounds we are healed.

6 qAll we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

rand the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

syet he opened not his mouth;

tlike a ulamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, vwho considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

9 And they made his grave with the wicked

wand with a rich man in his death,

although xhe had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet yit was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;20

zwhen his soul makes21 an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

athe will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see22 and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall bthe righteous one, my servant,

cmake many to be accounted righteous,

dand he shall bear their iniquities.

12 eTherefore I will divide him a portion with the many,23

fand he shall divide the spoil with the strong,24

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

gyet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

• Isaiah 48
• Isaiah 49–53
• Isaiah 54