Isaiah 49-51
New King James Version
The Servant, the Light to the Gentiles
49 “Listen, (A)O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
(B)The Lord has called Me from the womb;
From the [a]matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
2 And He has made (C)My mouth like a sharp sword;
(D)In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me (E)a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me.”
3 “And He said to me,
(F)‘You are My servant, O Israel,
(G)In whom I will be glorified.’
4 (H)Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my [b]just reward is with the Lord,
And my [c]work with my God.’ ”
5 “And now the Lord says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel (I)is [d]gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And My God shall be My strength),
6 Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a (J)light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
7 Thus says the Lord,
The Redeemer of Israel, [e]their Holy One,
(K)To Him [f]whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:
(L)“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the Lord who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You.”
8 Thus says the Lord:
“In an (M)acceptable[g] time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will [h]preserve You (N)and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate [i]heritages;
9 That You may say (O)to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
“They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.
10 They shall neither (P)hunger nor thirst,
(Q)Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them (R)will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
11 (S)I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
12 Surely (T)these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 (U)Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.
God Will Remember Zion
14 (V)But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can(W) a woman forget her nursing child,
[j]And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
(X)Yet I will not forget you.
16 See, (Y)I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
17 Your [k]sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
18 (Z)Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the Lord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all (AA)as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.
19 “For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
(AB)Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 (AC)The children you will have,
(AD)After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”
22 (AE)Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My [l]standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their [m]arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
23 (AF)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And (AG)lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
(AH)For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”
25 But thus says the Lord:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.
26 I will (AJ)feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they shall be drunk with their own (AK)blood as with sweet wine.
All flesh (AL)shall know
That I, the Lord, am your Savior,
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
The Servant, Israel’s Hope
50 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is (AM)the certificate of your mother’s divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My (AN)creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities (AO)you have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My (AP)rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
3 (AQ)I clothe the heavens with blackness,
(AR)And I make sackcloth their covering.”
4 “The(AS) Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is (AT)weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God (AU)has opened My ear;
And I was not (AV)rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
6 (AW)I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And (AX)My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and (AY)spitting.
7 “For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore (AZ)I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
8 (BA)He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is [o]My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
9 Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
(BB)Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
(BC)The moth will eat them up.
10 “Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who (BD)walks in darkness
And has no light?
(BE)Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.
11 Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
(BF)This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down (BG)in torment.
The Lord Comforts Zion(BH)
51 “Listen to Me, (BI)you who [p]follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
2 (BJ)Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
(BK)For I called him alone,
And (BL)blessed him and increased him.”
3 For the Lord will (BM)comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert (BN)like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
4 “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
(BO)For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
(BP)As a light of the peoples.
5 (BQ)My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
(BR)And My arms will judge the peoples;
(BS)The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And (BT)on My arm they will trust.
6 (BU)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For (BV)the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
(BW)The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be (BX)forever,
And My righteousness will not be [q]abolished.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people (BY)in whose heart is My law:
(BZ)Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
8 For (CA)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 from generation to generation.”
9 (CB)Awake, awake, (CC)put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake (CD)as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
(CE)Are You not the arm that cut (CF)Rahab apart,
And wounded the (CG)serpent?
10 Are You not the One who (CH)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
11 So (CI)the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, even I, am He (CJ)who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
(CK)Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made (CL)like grass?
13 And (CM)you forget the Lord your Maker,
(CN)Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
(CO)And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
(CP)That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
15 But I am the Lord your God,
Who (CQ)divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
16 And (CR)I have put My words in your mouth;
(CS)I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
(CT)That I may [r]plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
God’s Fury Removed
17 (CU)Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who (CV)have drunk at the hand of the Lord
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
18 There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
19 (CW)These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
(CX)By whom will I comfort you?
20 (CY)Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk (CZ)but not with wine.
22 Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who (DA)pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
23 (DB)But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to [s]you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 49:1 Lit. inward parts
- Isaiah 49:4 justice
- Isaiah 49:4 recompense
- Isaiah 49:5 Qr., DSS, LXX gathered to Him; Kt. not gathered
- Isaiah 49:7 Lit. his or its
- Isaiah 49:7 Lit. who is despised of soul
- Isaiah 49:8 favorable
- Isaiah 49:8 keep
- Isaiah 49:8 inheritances
- Isaiah 49:15 Lit. From having compassion
- Isaiah 49:17 DSS, LXX, Tg., Vg. builders
- Isaiah 49:22 banner
- Isaiah 49:22 Lit. bosom
- Isaiah 49:24 So with MT, Tg.; DSS, Syr., Vg. of the mighty; LXX unjustly
- Isaiah 50:8 Lit. master of My judgment
- Isaiah 51:1 pursue
- Isaiah 51:6 broken
- Isaiah 51:16 establish
- Isaiah 51:23 Lit. your soul
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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