Isaiah 49-53

New Life Version

The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen to Me, O islands. Listen, you people from far away. The Lord called Me before I was born. From the body of My mother he said My name. ² He has made My mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden Me in the shadow of His hand. He has made Me a shining arrow, keeping Me in His secret place. ³ And He said to Me, “You are My Servant Israel, in Whom I will show My shining-greatness.” ⁴ But I said, “My work has been for nothing. I have spent My strength for nothing. Yet for sure what should come to Me is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God.”

⁵ And now the Lord speaks, Who made Me before I was born to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him. For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and My God is My strength. ⁶ He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the family groups of Jacob, and to bring back those of Israel I have kept safe. I will also make You a light to the nations, so that men over all the earth can be saved from the punishment of their sins.” ⁷ This is what the Lord, the One Who saves Israel, and its Holy One, says to the hated One, to the One hated by the nations, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise up. Rulers will also bow down, because of the Lord Who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel Who has chosen You.”

Israel as a Nation

⁸ The Lord says, “I have answered You at the right time. I have helped You in a day when people are saved. I will keep You and give You for an agreement to the people, to make the land good again, and to give them their land which had been destroyed. ⁹ I will say to those in prison, ‘Come out,’ and to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will eat along the roads, and find grass on all the hills. ¹⁰ They will not be hungry or thirsty. The burning heat of the sun will not trouble them. For He Who has loving-pity on them will lead them. He will lead them to wells of water. ¹¹ And I will make all My mountains a road. My straight roads will be raised up. ¹² See, these will come from far away. See, these will come from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim.” ¹³ Sing for joy, O heavens! Be glad, O earth! Break out into songs of joy, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people. He will have loving-pity on His suffering people.

God Remembers Zion

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The Lord has left me alone. The Lord has forgotten me.” ¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing child? Can she have no pity on the son to whom she gave birth? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. ¹⁶ See, I have marked your names on My hands. Your walls are always before Me. ¹⁷ Your builders hurry. And those who destroy you will leave you. ¹⁸ Lift up your eyes and look around. All of them gather together and come to you. As I live,” says the Lord, “you will put them on like objects of beauty. You will tie them on as a bride does. ¹⁹ For your waste places and your destroyed land will now be too small for the people. And those who destroyed you will be far away. ²⁰ The children born to you during the time of your sorrow will say for you to hear, ‘The place is too small for us. Make a bigger place for us to live in.’ ²¹ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has given birth to these for me? My children were taken from me, and I could not give birth. I was sent away and had no place of my own. Who has brought up these children? See, I was left alone. Where have these come from?’”

²² The Lord God says, “See, I will lift up My hand to the nations. I will raise My flag to the people. And they will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. ²³ Kings will take care of you as fathers. And their queens will be your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground, and kiss the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who wait for Me with hope will not be put to shame. ²⁴ “Can that which was taken by a strong man in battle be taken from him? Can those taken away to prison by a powerful ruler be saved?” ²⁵ The Lord says, “Even those taken away by the strong man will be taken from him. Those taken by the powerful ruler will be saved. For I will fight with the one who fights with you, and I will save your sons. ²⁶ I will feed those who make it hard for you with their own flesh. They will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am the One Who saves you, and the One Who bought you, the Powerful One of Jacob.”

Israel’s Hope

50 The Lord says, “Where is the writing of your mother’s divorce, by which I have sent her away? To whom of those who owed Me money did I sell you? See, you were sold for your sins. For your wrong-doing your mother was sent away. ² Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot pay for your life? Have I no power to take you out of trouble? See, I dry up the sea with My sharp words. I make the rivers a desert. Their fish smell bad because they do not have enough water, and die of thirst. ³ I clothe the heavens with darkness. I make cloth made from hair its covering.”

⁴ The Lord God has given Me the tongue of those who follow Him, that I may know how to give strength when I speak to one who is tired. He wakes Me up morning by morning. He wakes up My ear to listen as a follower. ⁵ The Lord God has opened My ear, and I obeyed Him. I did not turn back. ⁶ I gave My back to those who hit Me, and My face to those who pull out the hair on my face. I did not cover My face from shame and spit. ⁷ For the Lord God helps Me, so I am not put to shame. I have set My face like hard stone, and know that I will not be ashamed. ⁸ He Who shows I am right is near. Who will fight with Me? Let us stand up to each other. Who has something against Me? Let him come near to Me. ⁹ See, the Lord God helps Me. Who will say that I am guilty? See, they will all wear out like a piece of clothing. The moth will eat them. ¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His Servant, yet walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and have faith in his God. ¹¹ See, all you who start a fire and put fire all around you! Walk in the light of your fire and among the pieces of wood you have started to burn. You will receive this from My hand: You will lie down in much suffering.

Comfort for Zion

51 “Listen to me, you who are following what is right and good, and who are looking for the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were cut out, and to the hole from which you were dug. ² Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain. When he was but one, I called him. Then I brought good to him and made him many.” ³ For the Lord will comfort Zion. He will comfort all her waste places. He will make her desert like Eden, like the garden of the Lord. Joy and happiness will be found in her. There will be much giving of thanks and much singing.

⁴ “Listen to Me, O My people. Hear Me, O My nation. The Law will go out from Me and My Law will be a light to the people. ⁵ My being right and good is near. My saving power has gone out, and My arms will judge the people. The islands will wait for Me. They will trust with hope for My arm. ⁶ Lift up your eyes to the sky, and look to the earth below. For the sky will go away like smoke. And the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing and those who live in it will die like flies. But My saving power will be forever. My being right and good will not come to an end. ⁷ Listen to Me, you who know what is right and good, you people who have My Law in your hearts. Do not fear the shame of strong words from man. Do not be troubled when they speak against you. ⁸ For the moth will eat them like a piece of clothing. And the worm will eat them like wool. But My being right and good will be forever. My saving power will be to all children’s children to come.”

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the days of old, as You did with the people who lived long ago. Was it not You Who cut Rahab in pieces, and Who cut through the big dragon? ¹⁰ Was it not You Who dried up the sea, the deep waters, and Who made a path through the deep sea for Your saved people to cross over? ¹¹ So the people, for whom the Lord paid the price to be saved, will return. They will come with songs of joy to Zion. Joy that lasts forever will be on their heads. They will receive joy and happiness, and sorrow and sad voices will hurry away.

¹² “I, even I, am He Who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of a man who dies? Why are you afraid of the sons of men who are made like grass, ¹³ that you have forgotten the Lord Who made you? He spread out the heavens and put the earth in its place. Why do you live in fear all day long because of the anger of the one who makes it hard for you as he makes ready to destroy? But where is his anger? ¹⁴ The one in chains will soon be set free, and will not die in prison. And he will always have enough bread. ¹⁵ For I am the Lord your God, Who fills the sea with action so that its waves sound: The Lord of All is His name. ¹⁶ I have put My words in your mouth, and have covered you with the shadow of My hand. I spread out the heavens and put the earth in its place, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

No More Suffering for Jerusalem

¹⁷ Awake! awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger. You drank it down, and you had trouble walking. ¹⁸ There is no one to lead her among all the sons born of her. There is no one to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. ¹⁹ These two things have come upon you: Being laid waste and destroyed, hunger and the sword. Who will have sorrow for you? How can I comfort you? ²⁰ Your sons have become weak and have fallen down. They cannot help themselves and they lie at the top of every street, like a deer in a net. The Lord has poured out His anger and sharp words upon them.

²¹ So hear this, you who are suffering, who are drunk, but not with wine. ²² Your Lord, the Lord your God Who fights for His people, says, “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that makes you have trouble walking. You will never drink from the cup of My anger again. ²³ I will put it into the hand of those who make it hard for you, who have said to you, ‘Lie down that we may walk over you.’ You have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to walk over.”

God Saves Israel

52 Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For those who have not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew and those who are unclean will not come into you any more. ² Shake off the dust. Rise up, O Jerusalem, who has been taken into prison. Loose yourself from the chains around your neck, O chained people of Zion who are in prison. ³ For the Lord says, “You were sold for nothing, and you will be bought without money and made free.” ⁴ For the Lord God says, “My people went down at first to Egypt to live there. Then the Assyrian made it hard for them without a reason. ⁵ So now what do I have here,” says the Lord, “Seeing that My people have been taken away for no reason?” The Lord says, “Those who rule over them call out in a loud voice and My name is spoken against all day long. ⁶ So My people will know My name. In that day they will know that it is I Who says, ‘Here I am.’”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who tells of peace and brings good news of happiness, who tells of saving power, and says to Zion, “Your God rules!” ⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices. They call out together for joy, for they will see with their own eyes the return of the Lord to Zion. ⁹ Break out together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted His people. He has saved Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The Lord has shown His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see that our God saves.

¹¹ Leave, leave, go from them. Touch nothing that is unclean. Leave and make yourselves pure, you who carry the holy objects of the Lord. ¹² But you will not go out in a hurry. You will not leave as if you were running for your lives. For the Lord will go before you. And the God of Israel will keep watch behind you.

The Suffering Servant

¹³ See, My Servant will do well. He will be high and lifted up and honored very much. ¹⁴ Just as many looked in wonder at you, My people, so His face was marked worse than any man, and His body more than the sons of men. ¹⁵ He will surprise many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. What they had never been told about Him, they will see. And what they had never heard about Him, they will understand.

53 Who has believed what we told them? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been shown? ² He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He has no beautiful body and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. ³ He was hated and men would have nothing to do with Him, a man of sorrows and suffering, knowing sadness well. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was hated, and we did not think well of Him.

⁴ For sure He took on Himself our troubles and carried our sorrows. Yet we thought of Him as being punished and hurt by God, and made to suffer. ⁵ But He was hurt for our wrong-doing. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so we would have peace. He was beaten so we would be healed. ⁶ All of us like sheep have gone the wrong way. Each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has put on Him the sin of us all.

⁷ Men made it very hard for Him and caused Him to suffer, yet He did not open His mouth. He was taken like a lamb to be put to death. A sheep does not make a sound while its wool is cut and He did not open His mouth. ⁸ He was taken away as a prisoner and then judged. Who among the people of that day cared that His life was taken away from the earth? He was hurt because of the sin of the people who should have been punished. ⁹ They gave Him a grave with the sinful, but with the rich at His death, for He had done no wrong, and there was nothing false in His mouth.

¹⁰ But it was the will of the Lord to crush Him, causing Him to suffer. Because He gives His life as a gift on the altar for sin, He will see His children. Days will be added to His life, and the will of the Lord will do well in His hand. ¹¹ He will see what the suffering of His soul brings, and will be pleased. By what He knows, the One Who is right and good, My Servant, will carry the punishment of many and He will carry their sins. ¹² So I will give Him a share among the great. He will divide the riches with the strong, because He gave up His life. They thought of Him as One Who broke the Law. Yet He Himself carried the sin of many, and prayed for the sinners.