Isaiah 50-52

Complete Jewish Bible

50 Adonai says:

“Where is your mother’s divorce document
which I gave her when I divorced her?
Or: to which of my creditors
did I sell you?
You were sold because of your sins;
because of your crimes was your mother divorced.
² Why was no one here when I came?
Why, when I called, did nobody answer?
Is my arm too short to redeem?
Have I too little power to save?
With my rebuke I dry up the sea;
I turn rivers into desert,
their fish rot for lack of water
and they die of thirst;
³ I dress the heavens in black to mourn
and make their covering sackcloth.”

⁴ Adonai Elohim has given me
the ability to speak as a man well taught,
so that I, with my words,
know how to sustain the weary.
Each morning he awakens my ear
to hear like those who are taught.
⁵ Adonai Elohim has opened my ear,
and I neither rebelled nor turned away.
⁶ I offered my back to those who struck me,
my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
⁷ For Adonai Elohim will help.
This is why no insult can wound me.
This is why I have set my face like flint,
knowing I will not be put to shame.
⁸ My vindicator is close by;
let whoever dares to accuse me
appear with me in court!
Let whoever has a case against me step forward!
⁹ Look, if Adonai Elohim helps me,
who will dare to condemn me?
Here, they are all falling apart
like old, moth-eaten clothes.

¹⁰ Who among you fears Adonai?
Who obeys what his servant says?
Even when he walks in the dark,
without any light,
he will trust in Adonai’s reputation
and rely on his God.
¹¹ But all of you who are lighting fires
and arming yourselves with firebrands:
go, walk in the flame of your own fire,
among the firebrands you lit!
From my hands this [fate] awaits you:
you will lie down in torment.

51 “Listen to me, you pursuers of justice,
you who seek Adonai:
consider the rock from which you were cut,
the quarry from which you were dug —
² consider Avraham your father
and Sarah, who gave birth to you;
in that I called him when he was only one person,
then blessed him and made him many.
³ For Adonai will comfort Tziyon,
will comfort all her ruined places,
will make her desert like ‘Eden,
her ‘Aravah like the garden of Adonai.
Joy and gladness will be there,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.
⁴ “Pay attention to me, my people!
My nation, listen to me!
For Torah will go out from me;
I will calm them with my justice
as a light for the peoples.
⁵ My righteousness is at hand,
my salvation goes out,
my arms will judge the peoples.
The coastlands are putting their hope in me,
trusting in my arm.

⁶ “Raise your eyes toward the skies,
look at the earth below.
The skies will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like clothing.
Those living on it will die like flies;
but my salvation will be forever,
and my justice will never end.

⁷ “Listen to me, you who know justice,
you people who have my Torah in your heart:
don’t be afraid of people’s taunts,
don’t be upset by their insults.
⁸ For the moth will eat them up like clothing,
the worm will eat them like wool;
but my justice will be forever,
and my salvation for all generations.”

⁹ Awake! Awake! Arm of Adonai,
clothe yourself with strength!
Awake, as in days of old,
as in ancient generations!
Wasn’t it you who hacked Rahav to pieces,
you who pierced the sea monster?*

¹⁰ Wasn’t it you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep;
you who made the sea bottom a road
for the redeemed to cross?
¹¹ Those ransomed by Adonai will return
and come with singing to Tziyon;
on their heads will be everlasting joy.
They will acquire gladness and joy,
while sorrow and sighing will flee.

¹² “I, yes I, am the one who comforts you!
Why are you afraid of a man, who must die;
of a human being, who will wither like grass?
¹³ You have forgotten Adonai, your maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Instead, you are in constant fear all day
because of the oppressor’s rage,
as he prepares to destroy!
But where is the oppressor’s rage?
¹⁴ The captive will soon be set free;
he will not die and go down to Sh’ol;
on the contrary, his food supply will be secure.
¹⁵ For I am Adonai your God,
who stirs up the sea, who makes its waves roar —
Adonai-Tzva’ot is my name.
¹⁶ I have put my words in your mouth
and covered you with the shadow of my hand,
in order to plant the skies [anew],
lay the foundations of the earth [anew]
and say to Tziyon, ‘You are my people.’”

¹⁷ Awake! Awake! Stand up, Yerushalayim!
At Adonai’s hand you drank the cup of his fury;
you have drained to the dregs
the goblet of drunkenness.
¹⁸ There is no one to guide her
among all the sons she has borne.
Not one of all the children she raised
is taking her by the hand.
¹⁹ These two disasters have overcome you —
yet who will grieve with you? —
plunder and destruction, famine and sword;
by whom can I comfort you?
²⁰ Your children lie helpless at every street corner,
like an antelope trapped in a net;
they are full of Adonai’s fury,
the rebuke of your God.
²¹ Therefore, please hear this in your affliction,
you who are drunk, but not with wine;
²² this is what your Lord Adonai says,
your God, who defends his people:
“Here, I have removed from your hand
the cup of drunkenness,
the goblet of my fury.
You will never drink it again.
²³ I will put it in the hands of your tormentors,
who said to you, ‘Bend down, so we can trample you,’
and you flattened your back on the ground
like a street for them to walk on.”

52 Awake! Awake, Tziyon!
Clothe yourself with your strength!
Dress in your splendid garments,
Yerushalayim, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
will enter you no more.
² Shake off the dust! Arise!
Be enthroned, Yerushalayim!
Loosen the chains on your neck,
captive daughter of Tziyon!
³ For thus says Adonai:
“You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.”
⁴ For thus says Adonai Elohim:
“Long ago my people went down to Egypt
to live there as aliens,
and Ashur oppressed them for no reason.
⁵ So now, what should I do here,” asks Adonai,
“since my people were carried off for nothing?
Their oppressors are howling,” says Adonai,
“and my name is always being insulted, daily.
⁶ Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore on that day they will know
that I, the one speaking — here I am!”

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
proclaiming shalom, bringing good news
of good things, announcing salvation
and saying to Tziyon, “Your God is King!”
⁸ Listen! Your watchmen are raising their voices,
shouting for joy together.
For they will see, before their own eyes,
Adonai returning to Tziyon.

⁹ Break out into joy! Sing together,
you ruins of Yerushalayim!
For Adonai has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Yerushalayim!
¹⁰ Adonai has bared his holy arm
in the sight of every nation,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
¹¹ Leave! Leave! Get out of there!
Don’t touch anything unclean!
Get out from inside it, and be clean,
you who carry Adonai’s temple equipment.
¹² You need not leave in haste,
you do not have to flee;
for Adonai will go ahead of you,
and the God of Isra’el will also be behind you.

¹³ “See how my servant will succeed!
He will be raised up, exalted, highly honored!
¹⁴ Just as many were appalled at him,
because he was so disfigured
that he didn’t even seem human
and simply no longer looked like a man,
¹⁵ so now he will startle many nations;
because of him, kings will be speechless.
For they will see what they had not been told,
they will ponder things they had never heard.”