Chapter 49 – Chapter 51

Chapter 49

CHAPTER 49

1 Hear me, O islands! And hearken, ye peoples from afar. Jehovah hath called me from the womb; From my mothers belly he hath had my name in remembrance.

2 And he hath placed nay mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, And hath placed me as a polished arrow; in his quiver hath he hid me;

3 And said to me, Thou art my servant, O Israel! In thee will I he glorified.

4 But I said, In vain have I toiled; Uselessly And unprofitably have I exhausted my strength; and my judgment is before Jehovah; And my work before my God.

5 And now saith Jehovah, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant, That I may bring back Jacob to him: And though Israel be not gathered, Yet I shall be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, And my God shall be my strength.

6 And he saith, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And that thou shouldst restore the desolations of Israel; Therefore have I appointed thee to be a light of the Gentiles, That thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth.

7 Thus saith Jehovah, The Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the contemptible in the soul, To the abhorred nation, To the servant of rulers; Kings shall see, And princes shall arise, And shall worship for the sake of Jehovah; For faithful is the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.

8 Thus saith Jehovah, In a time of good-pleasure have I listened to thee; In the day of salvation have I assisted thee; And I will preserve thee. And give thee for a covenant of the people, That thou mayest raise up the earth, That thou mayest possess by inheritance the desolate heritages;

9 That thou mayest say to them that are bound, Go forth! To them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. On the ways they shall feed; On all the high places shall be their pastures.

10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; The heat And the sun shall not smite them; For he that hath compassion on them shall guide them; And by the fountains of waters shall he lead them.

11 And I will place all my mountains for a way; And my paths shall be elevated.

12 Behold! those from afar shall come; And, behold! those from the North, And from the sea; And those from the land of Sinis.

Note 233. Or, Sinim.

13 Praise ye, O heavens! And rejoice, thou earth; And break forth into praise, ye mountains; For Jehovah hath comforted his people, And will have compassion on his poor.

14 Yet Zion hath said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, And my Lord hath forgotten me.

15 Shall a woman forget her infant, So as not to have compassion oil the soil of her womb? Even though they have forgotten, Yet will not I forget thee.

16 Behold! on the palms of my hands have I engraven thee; Thy walls are continually before me.

17 Thy builders hasten; Thy destroyers And demolishers shall depart far from thee.

18 Lift up thine eyes round about, And see. All are assembled, And have come to thee. I live, saith Jehovah, That thou shalt be clothed with them all, as with an ornament, And shalt be bound with them round about as a bride.

19 For thy desolations, And thy wastes, And thy ruined land, Shall now be too narrow for the multitude of its inhabitants; And thy destroyers shall depart far away.

20 The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too narrow for me; Make room for me. that I may dwell.

21 And thou shalt say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me those? For I am bereaved And solitary, A wanderer And an exile; Who then hath brought up those? Behold! I was left alone; Whence are they?

Note 234. Or, Barren.

22 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold! I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, And will erect my banner to the people; And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, And thy daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23 And kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, And their queens thy nurses; With their faces on the ground they shall worship thee, And shall lick the dust of thy feet; And thou shalt know that I am Jehovah, For they who wait for me shall not be ashamed.

24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? And shall the captivity of the righteous be delivered?

Note 235. Or, The righteous captivity.

25 Yet thus saith Jehovah; Even the captivity of the mighty shall be taken away, And the prey of the tyrant shall be delivered; For I will contend with him who contendeth with thee, And I will save thy children.

26 And I will feed thy spoilers with their own flesh, And they shall be made drunk with their own blood as with new wine; And all flesh shall know that I am Jehovah, Thy Savior And thy Redeemer, The Mighty One of Jacob.

Chapter 50

CHAPTER 50

1 Thus saith Jehovah: Where is that bill of your mothers divorcement Whom I have dismissed? Or who is the creditor To whom I sold you? Behold! for your iniquities ye have been sold, And to your transgressions was Your mother dismissed.

2 Why came I, And no mall (met me)? Called I, And no man answered? By shortening hath my hand been shortened, So that it cannot redeem? Is there not in me power to deliver? Behold! by my rebuke I dry up the sea; I put rivers in the wilderness, So that their fishes purify for want of water, And die for thirst.

3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, And make their covering like sackcloth.

4 The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of the learned, That I may know a word in season to the weary. In the morning will he awaken, In the morning will he awaken mine ear, That I may hear as the learned.

5 The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, And I was not rebellious: I did not turn back.

6 I exposed my body to the smiters, And my cheeks to them that tore me; My face I did not hide from shame And spitting.

7 For the Lord Jehovah will assist me; Therefore I was not ashamed; Therefore have I set my time as a flint; And I know that I shall not be confounded.

8 He is near that justifieth me: Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together: Who is the opponent of my cause? Let him draw near to me.

9 Behold! the Lord Jehovah will assist me; Who is he that shall condemn me? Behold! all shall wax old as a garment; The moth shall consume them.

10 Who is there among you that feareth Jehovah? Let him hear the voice of his servant. He who hath walked in darkness, And hath had no light; Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, And rely on his God.

11 Behold! ye all kindle a fire, And are surrounded with sparks. Walk ye in the light of your fire, And in the sparks which ye have kindled. From my hand hath this been to you; Ill sorrow shall ye lie down.

Chapter 51

CHAPTER 51

1 Hearken to me, ye that follow righteousness, Ye that seek Jehovah; Look ye to the rock of your hewing, And to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.

2 Look ye to Abraham your father; And to Sarah, who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed And multiplied him.

3 Surely Jehovah will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her desolations; And he will make her desert like a place of delights, And her wilderness like the garden of Jehovah: Gladness And joy shall be found in her; Confession And the voice of a song.

4 Attend to me, my people; And listen to me, my nation; For the law shall go forth from me; And I will reveal my judgment for a light of the peoples.

5 My righteousness is near; My salvation hath gone forth; And my arms shall judge the peoples: For me shall the islands wait, And in my arm shall they hope.

6 Lift up your eyes toward heaven, And look upon the earth beneath; For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, And the earth shall wax old like a garment, And its inhabitants shall perish in the same manner; But my salvation shall endure for ever. And my righteousness shall not perish.

7 Hearken to me, ye that know righteousness; A people in whose heart is my law. Fear ye not the reproach of men, And be not discouraged by their slander.

8 For the moth shall consume them like a garment; The worm shall consume them like wool; But my righteousness shall continually endure, And my salvation for ever And ever.

9 Awake, O arm of Jehovah! Awake, be clothed with strength! Awake as in ancient days, As in generations long ago past. Art thou not that arm which crushed the proud one, Which slew the dragon?

10 Art thou not that arm which dried up the sea, The water of the vast gulf; Which turned the depth of the sea into a path, For the passage of the redeemed?

11 Therefore the redeemed by Jehovah shall return; They shall come to Zion with a song; And everlasting joy shall be upon their head; They shall obtain gladness And joy, And sorrow And groaning shall flee away.

12 I, I am he that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of man that shall die, Of the son of man, that shall be accounted grass?

13 And hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, Who stretched out the heavens, And founded the earth; And hast dreaded continually every day The rage of the destroyer, When he prepareth to lay waste? And where is the rage of the destroyer?

14 The exile hasteneth to be loosed, That he may not die in a pit, And that his bread may not fail.

15 And I am Jehovah thy God, Who divide the sea, And its waves shall roar; Jehovah of hosts is his name.

16 And I have put my words in thy mouth; And in the shadow of my hand have I protected thee; That I may plant the heavens And found the earth; That I may say to Zion, Thou art my people.

17 Awake, awake, O Jerusalem! Arise, thou who hast drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of his fury; Pressing out, thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of distress.

Note 236. Or, Of trembling.

18 Of all the sons whom she bore, There is no one to guide her; Of all the sons whom she brought up, There is no one to take her by the hand.

19 These two things have happened to thee; Who shall bewail thee? Desolation And destruction, And the famine And the sword; Who shall comfort thee?

20 Thy sons have fainted; They lay down at the head of all the streets, As a wild bull in a net, Full of the indignation of Jehovah, Of the rebuke of thy God.

21 Therefore now hear this, thou afflicted, And drunken, but not with wine

22 Thus saith thy Lord, Jehovah, And thy God, the avenger of his people; Behold! I have taken out of thy hand The cup of affliction The dregs of the cup of my fury; Thou shalt not drink of it any more.

Note 237. Or, Of trembling.

23 And I will put it into the hand of thy oppressors, Who said to thy soul, Bow down, And we shall pass over; And thou didst lay thy body as the ground, And as the street to them that pass over.