God Will Remember Zion

14 (A)But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”

15 “Can(B) a woman forget her nursing child,
[a]And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
(C)Yet I will not forget you.
16 See, (D)I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
17 Your [b]sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
18 (E)Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the Lord,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all (F)as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.

19 “For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
(G)Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 (H)The children you will have,
(I)After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
‘The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
21 Then you will say in your heart,
‘Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”

22 (J)Thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My [c]standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their [d]arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
23 (K)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And (L)lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord,
(M)For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”

24 (N)Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or the captives [e]of the righteous be delivered?

25 But thus says the Lord:

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.
26 I will (O)feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they shall be drunk with their own (P)blood as with sweet wine.
All flesh (Q)shall know
That I, the Lord, am your Savior,
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

The Servant, Israel’s Hope

50 Thus says the Lord:

“Where is (R)the certificate of your mother’s divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My (S)creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities (T)you have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My (U)rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
(V)I clothe the heavens with blackness,
(W)And I make sackcloth their covering.”

“The(X) Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is (Y)weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
The Lord God (Z)has opened My ear;
And I was not (AA)rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
(AB)I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And (AC)My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and (AD)spitting.

“For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore (AE)I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
(AF)He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is [f]My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
(AG)Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
(AH)The moth will eat them up.

10 “Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who (AI)walks in darkness
And has no light?
(AJ)Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.
11 Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
(AK)This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down (AL)in torment.

The Lord Comforts Zion(AM)

51 “Listen to Me, (AN)you who [g]follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
(AO)Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
(AP)For I called him alone,
And (AQ)blessed him and increased him.”

For the Lord will (AR)comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert (AS)like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:15 Lit. From having compassion
  2. Isaiah 49:17 DSS, LXX, Tg., Vg. builders
  3. Isaiah 49:22 banner
  4. Isaiah 49:22 Lit. bosom
  5. Isaiah 49:24 So with MT, Tg.; DSS, Syr., Vg. of the mighty; LXX unjustly
  6. Isaiah 50:8 Lit. master of My judgment
  7. Isaiah 51:1 pursue

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