50 Thus says the Lord:
Where is your mother’s bill of divorce
    with which I dismissed her?
Or which of my creditors is it
    to whom I have sold you?
No, because of your sins you were sold,
    and for your transgressions your mother was dismissed.^(A)
2 Why was no one there when I came?
    Why did no one answer when I called?
Is my arm powerless to redeem?
    Or have I no strength to deliver?
By my rebuke I dry up the sea;
    I make the rivers a desert,
so that their fish stink for lack of water
    and die of thirst.^[a](B)
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness
    and make sackcloth their covering.^(C)

⁷ The Lord God helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame;^(G)
8     he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand in court together.
Who are my adversaries?
    Let them confront me.^(H)
9 It is the Lord God who helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.^(I)

¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness
    and has no light,
yet trusts in the name of the Lord
    and relies upon his God?^(J)
11 But all of you are kindlers of fire,
    lighters of firebrands.^[c]
Walk in the flame of your fire
    and among the brands that you have kindled!
This is what you shall have from my hand:
    you shall lie down in torment.^(K)

⁴ Listen to me, my people,
    and give heed to me, my nation,
for a teaching will go out from me
    and my justice for a light to the peoples.^(O)
5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly;
    my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will rule the peoples;
the coastlands wait for me,
    and for my arm they hope.^(P)
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens
    and look at the earth beneath,
for the heavens will vanish like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like a garment,
    and those who live on it will die like gnats,^[d]
but my salvation will be forever,
    and my deliverance will never be ended.^(Q)

⁷ Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    you people who have my teaching in your hearts;
do not fear the reproach of others,
    and do not be dismayed when they revile you.^(R)
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
    and the worm will eat them like wool,
but my deliverance will be forever
    and my salvation to all generations.^(S)

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?^(T)
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 cross over?^(U)
11 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with rejoicing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain joy and gladness,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.^(V)

¹² I, I am he who comforts you;
    why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,
    a human being who fades like grass?^(W)
13 You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    who stretched out the heavens
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
You fear continually all day long
    because of the fury of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction.
    But where is the fury of the oppressor?^(X)
14 The oppressed shall speedily be released;
    they shall not die and go down to the Pit,
    nor shall they lack bread.^(Y)
15 For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.^(Z)
16 I have put my words in your mouth
    and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,
stretching out^[e] the heavens
    and laying the foundations of the earth
    and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”^(AA)

¹⁷ Rouse yourself, rouse yourself!
    Stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord
    the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
    the cup of staggering.^(AB)
18 There is no one to guide her
    among all the children she has borne;
there is no one to take her by the hand
    among all the children she has brought up.^(AC)
19 These two things have befallen you
    —who will grieve with you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword.
    Who will comfort you?^[f](AD)
20 Your children 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.^(AE)

²¹ Therefore hear this, you who are wounded,^[g]
    who are drunk but not with wine:^(AF)
22 Thus says your Sovereign, the Lord,
    your God who pleads the cause of his people:
See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
you shall drink no more
    from the cup of my wrath.^(AG)
23 And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    “Bow down, that we may walk on you,”
and you have made your back like the ground
    and like the street for them to walk on.^(AH)

⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
    who announces salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”^(AO)
8 Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy,
for in plain sight they see
    the return of the Lord to Zion.^(AP)
9 Break forth; shout together for joy,
    you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.^(AQ)
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.^(AR)

¹¹ Depart, depart, go out from there!
    Touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of it; purify yourselves,
    you who carry the vessels of the Lord.^(AS)
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.^(AT)