Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience
1 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
1 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 law1 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;2
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,
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?4
20 uYour sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
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
1 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.5 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;6
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 sprinkle7 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.
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,1 but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, y“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For zwho can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, ato answer back to God? bWill what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 cHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump done vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience evessels of wrath fprepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he hhas prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he ihas called, jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
k“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 l“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called m‘sons of the living God.’”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: n“Though the number of the sons of Israel2 be as the sand of the sea, oonly a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
pq“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
rwe would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What shall we say, then? sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ta righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness3 vdid not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the wstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
x“Behold, I am laying in Zion ya stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
