ISAIAH 42-53

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The Lord’s Chosen Servant42:1

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2

He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street; 3

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4

He will not grow faint or be discouraged

till he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his law.
5

Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it: 6

“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you as a covenant for the people,

a light for the nations, 7

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8

I am the Lord; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols. 9

Behold, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.” Sing to the Lord a New Song10

Sing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

the coastlands and their inhabitants. 11

Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that Kedar inhabits;

let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12

Let them give glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in the coastlands. 13

The Lord goes out like a mighty man,

like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;

he cries out, he shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.
14

For a long time I have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out like a woman in labor;

I will gasp and pant. 15

I will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,

and dry up the pools. 16

And I will lead the blind

in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them. 17

They are turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

“You are our gods.” Israel’s Failure to Hear and See18

Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind, that you may see! 19

Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,

or blind as the servant of the Lord? 20

He sees many things, but does not observe them;

his ears are open, but he does not hear. 21

The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,

to magnify his law and make it glorious. 22

But this is a people plundered and looted;

they are all of them trapped in holes

and hidden in prisons;

they have become plunder with none to rescue,

spoil with none to say, “Restore!” 23

Who among you will give ear to this,

will attend and listen for the time to come? 24

Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

in whose ways they would not walk,

and whose law they would not obey? 25

So he poured on him the heat of his anger

and the might of battle;

it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;

it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart. Israel’s Only Savior43:1

But now thus says the Lord,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine. 2

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you. 3

For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4

Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life. 5

Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you. 6

I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7

everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”
8

Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,

who are deaf, yet have ears! 9

All the nations gather together,

and the peoples assemble.

Who among them can declare this,

and show us the former things?

Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,

and let them hear and say, It is true. 10

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“and my servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.

Before me no god was formed,

nor shall there be any after me. 11

I, I am the Lord,

and besides me there is no savior. 12

I declared and saved and proclaimed,

when there was no strange god among you;

and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God. 13

Also henceforth I am he;

there is none who can deliver from my hand;

I work, and who can turn it back?”
14

Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and bring them all down as fugitives,

even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. 15

I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”
16

Thus says the Lord,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters, 17

who brings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18

“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old. 19

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert. 20

The wild beasts will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches,

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people, 21

the people whom I formed for myself

that they might declare my praise.
22

“Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

but you have been weary of me, O Israel! 23

You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

or honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

or wearied you with frankincense. 24

You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

you have wearied me with your iniquities.
25

“I, I am he

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins. 26

Put me in remembrance; let us argue together;

set forth your case, that you may be proved right. 27

Your first father sinned,

and your mediators transgressed against me. 28

Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary,

and deliver Jacob to utter destruction

and Israel to reviling. Israel the Lord’s Chosen44:1

“But now hear, O Jacob my servant,

Israel whom I have chosen! 2

Thus says the Lord who made you,

who formed you from the womb and will help you:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,

and my blessing on your descendants. 4

They shall spring up among the grass

like willows by flowing streams. 5

This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’

another will call on the name of Jacob,

and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and name himself by the name of Israel.” Besides Me There Is No God6

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel

and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

“I am the first and I am the last;

besides me there is no god. 7

Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.

Let him declare and set it before me,

since I appointed an ancient people.

Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. 8

Fear not, nor be afraid;

have I not told you from of old and declared it?

And you are my witnesses!

Is there a God besides me?

There is no Rock; I know not any.” The Folly of Idolatry9 All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. 10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.
    12 The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
    18 They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. 19 No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” The Lord Redeems Israel21

Remember these things, O Jacob,

and Israel, for you are my servant;

I formed you; you are my servant;

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud

and your sins like mist;

return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23

Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;

shout, O depths of the earth;

break forth into singing, O mountains,

O forest, and every tree in it!

For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,

and will be glorified in Israel.
24

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,

who formed you from the womb:

“I am the Lord, who made all things,

who alone stretched out the heavens,

who spread out the earth by myself, 25

who frustrates the signs of liars

and makes fools of diviners,

who turns wise men back

and makes their knowledge foolish, 26

who confirms the word of his servant

and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’

and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,

and I will raise up their ruins’; 27

who says to the deep, ‘Be dry;

I will dry up your rivers’; 28

who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,

and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;

saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’

and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’” Cyrus, God’s Instrument45:1

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped,

to subdue nations before him

and to loose the belts of kings,

to open doors before him

that gates may not be closed: 2

“I will go before you

and level the exalted places,

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

and cut through the bars of iron, 3

I will give you the treasures of darkness

and the hoards in secret places,

that you may know that it is I, the Lord,

the God of Israel, who call you by your name. 4

For the sake of my servant Jacob,

and Israel my chosen,

I call you by your name,

I name you, though you do not know me. 5

I am the Lord, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me, 6

that people may know, from the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7

I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being and create calamity;

I am the Lord, who does all these things.
8

“Shower, O heavens, from above,

and let the clouds rain down righteousness;

let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;

let the earth cause them both to sprout;

I the Lord have created it.
9

“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,

a pot among earthen pots!

Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’

or ‘Your work has no handles’? 10

Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’

or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
11

Thus says the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:

“Ask me of things to come;

will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? 12

I made the earth

and created man on it;

it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host. 13

I have stirred him up in righteousness,

and I will make all his ways level;

he shall build my city

and set my exiles free,

not for price or reward,”

says the Lord of hosts. The Lord, the Only Savior14

Thus says the Lord:

“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,

and the Sabeans, men of stature,

shall come over to you and be yours;

they shall follow you;

they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.

They will plead with you, saying:

‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,

no god besides him.’”
15

Truly, you are a God who hides himself,

O God of Israel, the Savior. 16

All of them are put to shame and confounded;

the makers of idols go in confusion together. 17

But Israel is saved by the Lord

with everlasting salvation;

you shall not be put to shame or confounded

to all eternity.
18

For thus says the Lord,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it empty,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other. 19

I did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek me in vain.’

I the Lord speak the truth;

I declare what is right.
20

“Assemble yourselves and come;

draw near together,

you survivors of the nations!

They have no knowledge

who carry about their wooden idols,

and keep on praying to a god

that cannot save. 21

Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together!

Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the Lord?

And there is no other god besides me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none besides me.
22

“Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other. 23

By myself I have sworn;

from my mouth has gone out in righteousness

a word that shall not return:

‘To me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
24

“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,

are righteousness and strength;

to him shall come and be ashamed

all who were incensed against him. 25

In the Lord all the offspring of Israel

shall be justified and shall glory.” The Idols of Babylon and the One True God46:1

Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;

their idols are on beasts and livestock;

these things you carry are borne

as burdens on weary beasts. 2

They stoop; they bow down together;

they cannot save the burden,

but themselves go into captivity.
3

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been borne by me from before your birth,

carried from the womb; 4

even to your old age I am he,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.
5

“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike? 6

Those who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

then they fall down and worship! 7

They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

it cannot move from its place.

If one cries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.
8

“Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9

remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me, 10

declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11

calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.
12

“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

you who are far from righteousness: 13

I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,

and my salvation will not delay;

I will put salvation in Zion,

for Israel my glory.” The Humiliation of Babylon47:1

Come down and sit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no more be called

tender and delicate. 2

Take the millstones and grind flour,

put off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers. 3

Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one. 4

Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.
5

Sit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

the mistress of kingdoms. 6

I was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

you showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. 7

You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.
8

Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,

who sit securely,

who say in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me;

I shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children”: 9

These two things shall come to you

in a moment, in one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.
10

You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, “No one sees me”;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me.” 11

But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.
12

Stand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror. 13

You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

those who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.
14

Behold, they are like stubble;

the fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before! 15

Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you. Israel Refined for God’s Glory48:1

Hear this, O house of Jacob,

who are called by the name of Israel,

and who came from the waters of Judah,

who swear by the name of the Lord

and confess the God of Israel,

but not in truth or right. 2

For they call themselves after the holy city,

and stay themselves on the God of Israel;

the Lord of hosts is his name.
3

“The former things I declared of old;

they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;

then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4

Because I know that you are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass, 5

I declared them to you from of old,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,

my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6

“You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forth I announce to you new things,

hidden things that you have not known. 7

They are created now, not long ago;

before today you have never heard of them,

lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8

You have never heard, you have never known,

from of old your ear has not been opened.

For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,

and that from before birth you were called a rebel.
9

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger;

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off. 10

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another. The Lord’s Call to Israel12

“Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he; I am the first,

and I am the last. 13

My hand laid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I call to them,

they stand forth together.
14

“Assemble, all of you, and listen!

Who among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. 15

I, even I, have spoken and called him;

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way. 16

Draw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”

And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17

Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go. 18

Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; 19

your offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.”
20

Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,

declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it out to the end of the earth;

say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21

They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

he made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22

“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” The Servant of the Lord49:1

Listen to me, O coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name. 2

He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

in 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, in whom I will be glorified.” 4

But 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

And now the Lord says,

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

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him—

for I 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;

I will make you as a light for the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7

Thus says the Lord,

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,

the servant of rulers:

“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 Israel8

Thus says the Lord:

“In a time of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you and give you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages, 9

saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’

They shall feed along the ways;

on all bare heights shall be their pasture; 10

they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them. 11

And I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up. 12

Behold, these shall come from afar,

and behold, these from the north and from the west,

and these from the land of Syene.”
13

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people

and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;

my Lord has forgotten me.”
15

“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, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

your walls are continually before me. 17

Your builders make haste;

your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. 18

Lift up your eyes around and see;

they all gather, they come to you.

As I live, declares the Lord,

you 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—

surely now you will be too narrow for your 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 narrow for me;

make room for me to dwell in.’ 21

Then you will say in your heart:

‘Who has borne me these?

I 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,

and raise my signal to the peoples;

and they shall bring your sons in their arms,

and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. 23

Kings shall be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

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

and lick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
24

Can the prey be taken from the mighty,

or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? 25

For thus says the Lord:

“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

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

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

Then all flesh shall know

that I am the Lord your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience50:1

Thus says the Lord:

“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,

with which I sent her away?

Or which of my creditors is it

to whom I have sold you?

Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. 2

Why, when I came, was there no man;

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

Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, 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. 3

I clothe the heavens with blackness

and make sackcloth their covering.”
4

The Lord God has given me

the tongue of those who are taught,

that I may know how to sustain with a word

him who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught. 5

The Lord God has opened my ear,

and I was not rebellious;

I turned not backward. 6

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.
7

But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face like a flint,

and I know that I shall not be put to shame. 8

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

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.
10

Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the voice of his servant?

Let 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!

This you have from my hand:

you shall lie down in torment. The Lord’s Comfort for Zion51:1

“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 he was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him. 3

For the Lord comforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and makes her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the Lord;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4

“Give attention to me, my people,

and give ear to me, my nation;

for a law will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. 5

My righteousness draws near,

my salvation has gone out,

and my arms will judge the peoples;

the coastlands hope for me,

and for my arm they wait. 6

Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

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;

but my salvation will be forever,

and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7

“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

the people in whose heart is my law;

fear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings. 8

For the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool,

but my righteousness will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.”
9

Awake, awake, put on strength,

O arm of the Lord;

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 way

for the redeemed to pass over? 11

And 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 who comforts you;

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

of the son of man who is made like grass, 13

and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

And where is the wrath of the oppressor? 14

He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;

he shall not die and go down to the pit,

neither shall his bread be lacking. 15

I am the Lord your God,

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the Lord of hosts is his name. 16

And I have put my words in your mouth

and covered you in the shadow of my hand,

establishing the heavens

and laying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17

Wake yourself, wake yourself,

stand up, O Jerusalem,

you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord

the cup of his wrath,

who have drunk to the dregs

the bowl, the cup of staggering. 18

There 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

These two things have happened to you—

who will console you?—

devastation and destruction, famine and sword;

who will comfort you? 20

Your sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a net;

they are full of the wrath of the Lord,

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, the Lord,

your God who pleads the cause of his people:

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

the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; 23

and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,

who have said to you,

‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;

and you have made your back like the ground

and like the street for them to pass over.” The Lord’s Coming Salvation52:1

Awake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

put on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the holy city;

for there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2

Shake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

loose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.
    3 For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. 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 continually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
7

How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who brings good news,

who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,

who publishes salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 8

The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;

together they sing for joy;

for eye to eye they see

the return of the Lord to Zion. 9

Break forth together into singing,

you waste places of Jerusalem,

for the Lord has comforted his people;

he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10

The Lord has bared his holy arm

before the eyes of all the nations,

and all the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.
11

Depart, depart, go out from there;

touch no unclean thing;

go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,

you who bear the vessels of the Lord. 12

For you shall not go out in haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for the Lord will go before you,

and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions13

Behold, my servant shall act wisely;

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted. 14

As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15

so shall he sprinkle many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,

for that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand. 53:1

Who has believed what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

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

and no beauty that we should desire him. 3

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted. 5

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed. 6

All we like sheep have gone astray;

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

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.
7

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb 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, who 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

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

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

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11

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

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities. 12

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

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