Isaiah 49:1--57:21

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands!

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth;

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world.

49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

he hid me in the hollow of his hand;

he made me like a sharpened arrow,

he hid me in his quiver.

49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.”

49:4 But I thought, “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.”

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me.

49:5 So now the Lord says,

the one who formed me from birth to be his servant –

he did this to restore Jacob to himself,

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

and I will be honored in the Lord’s sight,

for my God is my source of strength

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant of Israel?

I will make you a light to the nations,

so you can bring my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

49:7 This is what the Lord,

the protector of Israel, their Holy One, says

to the one who is despised and rejected by nations,

a servant of rulers:

“Kings will see and rise in respect,

princes will bow down,

because of the faithful Lord,

the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

49:8 This is what the Lord says:

“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;

in the day of deliverance I will help you;

I will protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people,

to rebuild the land

and to reassign the desolate property.

49:9 You will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’

and to those who are in dark dungeons, ‘Emerge.’

They will graze beside the roads;

on all the slopes they will find pasture.

49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;

the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them,

for one who has compassion on them will guide them;

he will lead them to springs of water.

49:11 I will make all my mountains into a road;

I will construct my roadways.”

49:12 Look, they come from far away!

Look, some come from the north and west,

and others from the land of Sinim!

49:13 Shout for joy, O sky!

Rejoice, O earth!

Let the mountains give a joyful shout!

For the Lord consoles his people

and shows compassion to the oppressed.

The Lord Remembers Zion

49:14 “Zion said, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,

the sovereign master has forgotten me.’

49:15 Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast?

Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne?

Even if mothers were to forget,

I could never forget you!

49:16 Look, I have inscribed your name on my palms;

your walls are constantly before me.

49:17 Your children hurry back,

while those who destroyed and devastated you depart.

49:18 Look all around you!

All of them gather to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;

you will put them on as if you were a bride.

49:19 Yes, your land lies in ruins;

it is desolate and devastated.

But now you will be too small to hold your residents,

and those who devoured you will be far away.

49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement

will say within your hearing,

‘This place is too cramped for us,

make room for us so we can live here.’

49:21 Then you will think to yourself,

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced.

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

49:23 Kings will be your children’s guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children.

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

49:24 Can spoils be taken from a warrior,

or captives be rescued from a conqueror?

49:25 Indeed,” says the Lord,

“captives will be taken from a warrior;

spoils will be rescued from a conqueror.

I will oppose your adversary

and I will rescue your children.

49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;

they will get drunk on their own blood, as if it were wine.

Then all humankind will recognize that

I am the Lord, your deliverer,

your protector, the powerful ruler of Jacob.”

50:1 This is what the Lord says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce certificate

by which I divorced her?

Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?

Look, you were sold because of your sins;

because of your rebellious acts I divorced your mother.

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call?

Is my hand too weak to deliver you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water.

50:3 I can clothe the sky in darkness;

I can cover it with sackcloth.”

The Servant Perseveres

50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman,

so that I know how to help the weary.

He wakes me up every morning;

he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do.

50:5 The sovereign Lord has spoken to me clearly;

I have not rebelled,

I have not turned back.

50:6 I offered my back to those who attacked,

my jaws to those who tore out my beard;

I did not hide my face

from insults and spitting.

50:7 But the sovereign Lord helps me,

so I am not humiliated.

For that reason I am steadfastly resolved;

I know I will not be put to shame.

50:8 The one who vindicates me is close by.

Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other!

Who is my accuser? Let him challenge me!

50:9 Look, the sovereign Lord helps me.

Who dares to condemn me?

Look, all of them will wear out like clothes;

a moth will eat away at them.

50:10 Who among you fears the Lord?

Who obeys his servant?

Whoever walks in deep darkness,

without light,

should trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.

50:11 Look, all of you who start a fire

and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows,

walk in the light of the fire you started

and among the flaming arrows you ignited!

This is what you will receive from me:

you will lie down in a place of pain.

There is Hope for the Future

51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue godliness,

who seek the Lord!

Look at the rock from which you were chiseled,

at the quarry from which you were dug!

51:2 Look at Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who gave you birth.

When I summoned him, he was a lone individual,

but I blessed him and gave him numerous descendants.

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For I will issue a decree,

I will make my justice a light to the nations.

51:5 I am ready to vindicate,

I am ready to deliver,

I will establish justice among the nations.

The coastlands wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power.

51:6 Look up at the sky!

Look at the earth below!

For the sky will dissipate like smoke,

and the earth will wear out like clothes;

its residents will die like gnats.

But the deliverance I give is permanent;

the vindication I provide will not disappear.

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law!

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

51:8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes;

a clothes moth will devour them like wool.

But the vindication I provide will be permanent;

the deliverance I give will last.”

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord!

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash the Proud One?

Did you not wound the sea monster?

51:10 Did you not dry up the sea,

the waters of the great deep?

Did you not make a path through the depths of the sea,

so those delivered from bondage could cross over?

51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;

they will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them,

happiness and joy will overwhelm them;

grief and suffering will disappear.

51:12 “I, I am the one who consoles you.

Why are you afraid of mortal men,

of mere human beings who are as short-lived as grass?

51:13 Why do you forget the Lord, who made you,

who stretched out the sky

and founded the earth?

Why do you constantly tremble all day long

at the anger of the oppressor,

when he makes plans to destroy?

Where is the anger of the oppressor?

51:14 The one who suffers will soon be released;

he will not die in prison,

he will not go hungry.

51:15 I am the Lord your God,

who churns up the sea so that its waves surge.

The Lord who commands armies is his name!

Zion’s Time to Celebrate

51:16 I commission you as my spokesman;

I cover you with the palm of my hand,

to establish the sky and to found the earth,

to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

51:17 Wake up! Wake up!

Get up, O Jerusalem!

You drank from the cup the Lord passed to you,

which was full of his anger!

You drained dry

the goblet full of intoxicating wine.

51:18 There was no one to lead her

among all the children she bore;

there was no one to take her by the hand

among all the children she raised.

51:19 These double disasters confronted you.

But who feels sorry for you?

Destruction and devastation,

famine and sword.

But who consoles you?

51:20 Your children faint;

they lie at the head of every street

like an antelope in a snare.

They are left in a stupor by the Lord’s anger,

by the battle cry of your God.

51:21 So listen to this, oppressed one,

who is drunk, but not from wine!

51:22 This is what your sovereign master, the Lord your God, says:

“Look, I have removed from your hand

the cup of intoxicating wine,

the goblet full of my anger.

You will no longer have to drink it.

51:23 I will put it into the hand of your tormentors

who said to you, ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you.’

You made your back like the ground,

and like the street for those who walked over you.”

52:1 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!

Put on your beautiful clothes,

O Jerusalem, holy city!

For uncircumcised and unclean pagans

will no longer invade you.

52:2 Shake off the dirt!

Get up, captive Jerusalem!

Take off the iron chains around your neck,

O captive daughter Zion!

52:3 For this is what the Lord says:

“You were sold for nothing,

and you will not be redeemed for money.”

52:4 For this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt;

Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.

52:5 And now, what do we have here?” says the Lord.

“Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,

those who rule over them taunt,” says the Lord,

“and my name is constantly slandered all day long.

52:6 For this reason my people will know my name,

for this reason they will know at that time that I am the one who says,

‘Here I am.’”

52:7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains

the feet of a messenger who announces peace,

a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

52:8 Listen, your watchmen shout;

in unison they shout for joy,

for they see with their very own eyes

the Lord’s return to Zion.

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects Jerusalem.

52:10 The Lord reveals his royal power

in the sight of all the nations;

the entire earth sees

our God deliver.

52:11 Leave! Leave! Get out of there!

Don’t touch anything unclean!

Get out of it!

Stay pure, you who carry the Lord’s holy items!

52:12 Yet do not depart quickly

or leave in a panic.

For the Lord goes before you;

the God of Israel is your rear guard.

The Lord Will Vindicate His Servant

52:13 “Look, my servant will succeed!

He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted

52:14 (just as many were horrified by the sight of you)

he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man;

52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human

so now he will startle many nations.

Kings will be shocked by his exaltation,

for they will witness something unannounced to them,

and they will understand something they had not heard about.

53:1 Who would have believed what we just heard?

When was the Lord’s power revealed through him?

53:2 He sprouted up like a twig before God,

like a root out of parched soil;

he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention,

no special appearance that we should want to follow him.

53:3 He was despised and rejected by people,

one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness;

people hid their faces from him;

he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.

53:4 But he lifted up our illnesses,

he carried our pain;

even though we thought he was being punished,

attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done.

53:5 He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds,

crushed because of our sins;

he endured punishment that made us well;

because of his wounds we have been healed.

53:6 All of us had wandered off like sheep;

each of us had strayed off on his own path,

but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him.

53:7 He was treated harshly and afflicted,

but he did not even open his mouth.

Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,

like a sheep silent before her shearers,

he did not even open his mouth.

53:8 He was led away after an unjust trial

but who even cared?

Indeed, he was cut off from the land of the living;

because of the rebellion of his own people he was wounded.

53:9 They intended to bury him with criminals,

but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb,

because he had committed no violent deeds,

nor had he spoken deceitfully.

53:10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,

once restitution is made,

he will see descendants and enjoy long life,

and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.

53:11 Having suffered, he will reflect on his work,

he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done.

“My servant will acquit many,

for he carried their sins.

53:12 So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes,

he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful,

because he willingly submitted to death

and was numbered with the rebels,

when he lifted up the sin of many

and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”

Zion Will Be Secure

54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!

Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate one are more numerous

than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

54:2 Make your tent larger,

stretch your tent curtains farther out!

Spare no effort,

lengthen your ropes,

and pound your stakes deep.

54:3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

your children will conquer nations

and will resettle desolate cities.

54:4 Don’t be afraid, for you will not be put to shame!

Don’t be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated!

You will forget about the shame you experienced in your youth;

you will no longer remember the disgrace of your abandonment.

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, the Holy One of Israel.

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

54:6 “Indeed, the Lord will call you back

like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression,

like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.

54:7 “For a short time I abandoned you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

54:8 In a burst of anger I rejected you momentarily,

but with lasting devotion I will have compassion on you,”

says your protector, the Lord.

54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time,

when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood would never again cover the earth.

In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

54:10 Even if the mountains are removed

and the hills displaced,

my devotion will not be removed from you,

nor will my covenant of friendship be displaced,”

says the Lord, the one who has compassion on you.

54:11 “O afflicted one, driven away, and unconsoled!

Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony

and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

54:12 I will make your pinnacles out of gems,

your gates out of beryl,

and your outer wall out of beautiful stones.

54:13 All your children will be followers of the Lord,

and your children will enjoy great prosperity.

54:14 You will be reestablished when I vindicate you.

You will not experience oppression;

indeed, you will not be afraid.

You will not be terrified,

for nothing frightening will come near you.

54:15 If anyone dares to challenge you, it will not be my doing!

Whoever tries to challenge you will be defeated.

54:16 Look, I create the craftsman,

who fans the coals into a fire

and forges a weapon.

I create the destroyer so he might devastate.

54:17 No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;

you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you.

This is what the Lord will do for his servants –

I will vindicate them,”

says the Lord.

The Lord Gives an Invitation

55:1 “Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water!

You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk

without money and without cost!

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you?

Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing!

Enjoy fine food!

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live!

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David.

55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations,

a ruler and commander of nations.”

55:5 Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know;

nations that did not previously know you will run to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

for he bestows honor on you.

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available;

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle

and sinful people their plans.

They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them,

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.

55:8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans,

and my deeds are not like your deeds,

55:9 for just as the sky is higher than the earth,

so my deeds are superior to your deeds

and my plans superior to your plans.

55:10 The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make

does not return to me, having accomplished nothing.

No, it is realized as I desire

and is fulfilled as I intend.”

55:12 Indeed you will go out with joy;

you will be led along in peace;

the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you,

and all the trees in the field will clap their hands.

55:13 Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes,

firs will grow in place of nettles;

they will be a monument to the Lord,

a permanent reminder that will remain.

The Lord Invites Outsiders to Enter

56:1 This is what the Lord says,

“Promote justice! Do what is right!

For I am ready to deliver you;

I am ready to vindicate you openly.

56:2 The people who do this will be blessed,

the people who commit themselves to obedience,

who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

who refrain from doing anything that is wrong.

56:3 No foreigner who becomes a follower of the Lord should say,

‘The Lord will certainly exclude me from his people.’

The eunuch should not say,

‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”

56:4 For this is what the Lord says:

“For the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths

and choose what pleases me

and are faithful to my covenant,

56:5 I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument

that will be better than sons and daughters.

I will set up a permanent monument for them that will remain.

56:6 As for foreigners who become followers of the Lord and serve him,

who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants –

all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it,

and who are faithful to my covenant –

56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain;

I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me.

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,

for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.”

56:8 The sovereign Lord says this,

the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:

“I will still gather them up.”

The Lord Denounces Israel’s Paganism

56:9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour,

all you wild animals in the forest!

56:10 All their watchmen are blind,

they are unaware.

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, lie down,

and love to snooze.

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full.

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain.

56:12 Each one says,

‘Come on, I’ll get some wine!

Let’s guzzle some beer!

Tomorrow will be just like today!

We’ll have everything we want!’

57:1 The godly perish,

but no one cares.

Honest people disappear,

when no one minds

that the godly disappear because of evil.

57:2 Those who live uprightly enter a place of peace;

they rest on their beds.

57:3 But approach, you sons of omen readers,

you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes!

57:4 At whom are you laughing?

At whom are you opening your mouth

and sticking out your tongue?

You are the children of rebels,

the offspring of liars,

57:5 you who practice ritual sex under the oaks and every green tree,

who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs.

57:6 Among the smooth stones of the stream are the idols you love;

they, they are the object of your devotion.

You pour out liquid offerings to them,

you make an offering.

Because of these things I will seek vengeance.

57:7 On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed;

you go up there to offer sacrifices.

57:8 Behind the door and doorpost you put your symbols.

Indeed, you depart from me and go up

and invite them into bed with you.

You purchase favors from them,

you love their bed,

and gaze longingly on their genitals.

57:9 You take olive oil as tribute to your king,

along with many perfumes.

You send your messengers to a distant place;

you go all the way to Sheol.

57:10 Because of the long distance you must travel, you get tired,

but you do not say, ‘I give up.’

You get renewed energy,

so you don’t collapse.

57:11 Whom are you worried about?

Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfully

and not remember me

or think about me?

Because I have been silent for so long,

you are not afraid of me.

57:12 I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds,

but they will not help you.

57:13 When you cry out for help, let your idols help you!

The wind blows them all away,

a breeze carries them away.

But the one who looks to me for help will inherit the land

and will have access to my holy mountain.”

57:14 He says,

“Build it! Build it! Clear a way!

Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,

the one who rules forever, whose name is holy:

“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,

but also with the discouraged and humiliated,

in order to cheer up the humiliated

and to encourage the discouraged.

57:16 For I will not be hostile forever

or perpetually angry,

for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me,

the life-giving breath I created.

57:17 I was angry because of their sinful greed;

I attacked them and angrily rejected them,

yet they remained disobedient and stubborn.

57:18 I have seen their behavior,

but I will heal them and give them rest,

and I will once again console those who mourn.

57:19 I am the one who gives them reason to celebrate.

Complete prosperity is available both to those who are far away and those who are nearby,”

says the Lord, “and I will heal them.

57:20 But the wicked are like a surging sea

that is unable to be quiet;

its waves toss up mud and sand.

57:21 There will be no prosperity,” says my God, “for the wicked.”