50  Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^pyour mother’s ^qcertificate of divorce,

^rwith which I sent her away?

Or which of my creditors is it

to whom I have ^ssold you?

Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2  Why, when I came, ^twas there no man;

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

^uIs 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 ^vsackcloth 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  ^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 ^xspitting.

7  But the Lord God helps me;

therefore I have not been disgraced;

therefore I have set my face ^ylike 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 ^zwear out like a garment;

the ^amoth will eat them up.

10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the voice of ^bhis servant?

Let him who walks in darkness

and has no light

^ctrust in the name of the Lord

and ^drely 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.

51  “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 ^ecomforts Zion;

he comforts all her waste places

and ^fmakes her wilderness like ^gEden,

her desert like the ^hgarden 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 ⁱa law¹ will go out from me,

and I will set my justice for a ^jlight to the peoples.

5  My ^krighteousness 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  ^lLift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for ^mthe heavens vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;²

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 ⁿheart is my law;

fear not the reproach of man,

nor be dismayed at their revilings.

8  For the ^omoth 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  ^pAwake, 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 ^qRahab 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  ^rAnd 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 ^ssorrow and sighing shall flee away.

12  “I, I am he who comforts you;

who are you that you are ^tafraid of man who dies,

of the son of man who is made ^ulike grass,

13  and have ^vforgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who ^wstretched out the heavens

and ^xlaid 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,

^ywho stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

^zthe Lord of hosts is his name.

16  And I have ^aput my words in your mouth

and covered you ^bin the shadow of my hand,

establishing³ 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 ^cdrunk 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?⁴

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, ^dbut not with wine:

22  Thus says your Lord, the Lord,

your God who ^epleads 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.”

52  ^fAwake, awake,

put on your strength, O Zion;

put on your beautiful garments,

O Jerusalem, the ^gholy city;

for there shall no more come into you

the uncircumcised and the ^hunclean.

2  Shake yourself from the dust and arise;

be seated, O Jerusalem;

loose the bonds from your neck,

O captive daughter of Zion.

7  ⁿHow beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of him who ^obrings 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 ^pall the ends of the earth shall see

the salvation of our God.

11  ^qDepart, 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 ^rin haste,

and you shall not go in flight,

for the Lord will go before you,

and ^sthe God of Israel will be your rear guard.

13  Behold, ^tmy servant shall act wisely;²

he shall be ^uhigh 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 sprinkle³ many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,

for ^vthat which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

53  ^wWho has ^xbelieved what he has heard from us?¹

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 ^yroot 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 ^zdespised and rejected² by men,

a man of sorrows³ and acquainted with⁴ grief;⁵

and as one from whom men hide their faces⁶

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4  Surely ^ahe has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5  But he was pierced ^bfor 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  ^cAll 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 ^dhe opened not his mouth;

^elike 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 ^frich man in his death,

although^{7 g}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;⁸

when his soul makes⁹ 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 see¹⁰ and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, ^hmy servant,

ⁱmake many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall ^jbear their iniquities.

12  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,¹¹

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,¹²

because he poured out his soul to death

^kand was numbered ^lwith the transgressors;

yet he ^mbore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

54  ⁿ“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;

break forth into singing and cry aloud,

you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the ^odesolate one will be more

than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.

2  ^p“Enlarge the place of your tent,

and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;

do not hold back; lengthen your cords

and strengthen your stakes.

3  For you will ^qspread abroad to the right and to the left,

and your offspring will ^rpossess the nations

and will people the desolate cities.

4  “Fear not, for ^syou will not be ashamed;

be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;

for you will forget the shame of your youth,

and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

5  For your Maker is your husband,

the Lord of hosts is his name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God ^tof the whole earth he is called.

6  For the Lord has called you

like a wife ^udeserted and grieved in spirit,

like a wife of youth when she is cast off,

says your God.

7  For a brief moment I deserted you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

8  ^vIn overflowing anger for a moment

I ^whid my face from you,

but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”

says the Lord, your Redeemer.

9  “This is like the days of Noah¹ to me:

^xas I swore that the waters of Noah

should no more go over the earth,

so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,

and will not rebuke you.

10  For the mountains may depart

and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”

says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

11  “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,

behold, I will set your stones in antimony,

and lay your foundations with sapphires.²

12  I will make your pinnacles of agate,³

your gates of carbuncles,⁴

and all your wall of precious stones.

13  ^yAll your children shall be taught by the Lord,

and great shall be the peace of your children.

14  In righteousness you shall be established;

you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;

and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

15  If anyone stirs up strife,

it is not from me;

whoever stirs up strife with you

shall fall because of you.

16  Behold, I have created the smith

who blows the fire of coals

and produces a weapon for its purpose.

I have also created the ravager to destroy;

17  no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,

and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord

and their vindication⁵ from me, declares the Lord.”