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50 Thus says the Lord:
Where is your mother’s bill of divorce
    with which I dismissed her?
Or which of my creditors is it
    to whom I have sold you?
No, because of your sins you were sold,
    and for your transgressions your mother was dismissed.(A)
Why was no one there when I came?
    Why did no one answer when I called?
Is my arm powerless to redeem?
    Or have I no strength to deliver?
By my rebuke I dry up the sea;
    I make the rivers a desert,
so that their fish stink for lack of water
    and die of thirst.[a](B)
I clothe the heavens with blackness
    and make sackcloth their covering.(C)

The Servant’s Humiliation and Vindication

The Lord God has given me
    a trained tongue,[b]
that I may know how to sustain
    the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens,
    wakens my ear
    to listen as those who are taught.(D)
The Lord God has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious;
    I did not turn backward.(E)
I gave my back to those who struck me
    and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
    from insult and spitting.(F)

The Lord God helps me;
    therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
    and I know that I shall not be put to shame;(G)
    he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand in court together.
Who are my adversaries?
    Let them confront me.(H)
It is the Lord God who helps me;
    who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
    the moth will eat them up.(I)

10 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness
    and has no light,
yet trusts in the name of the Lord
    and relies upon his God?(J)
11 But all of you are kindlers of fire,
    lighters of firebrands.[c]
Walk in the flame of your fire
    and among the brands that you have kindled!
This is what you shall have from my hand:
    you shall lie down in torment.(K)

Blessings in Store for God’s People

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.(L)
Look to Abraham your father
    and to Sarah, who bore you,
for he was but one when I called him,
    but I blessed him and made him many.(M)
For the Lord will comfort Zion;
    he will comfort all her waste places
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
    her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
    thanksgiving and the voice of song.(N)

Listen to me, my people,
    and give heed to me, my nation,
for a teaching will go out from me
    and my justice for a light to the peoples.(O)
I will bring near my deliverance swiftly;
    my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will rule the peoples;
the coastlands wait for me,
    and for my arm they hope.(P)
Lift up your eyes to the heavens
    and look at the earth beneath,
for the heavens will vanish like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like a garment,
    and those who live on it will die like gnats,[d]
but my salvation will be forever,
    and my deliverance will never be ended.(Q)

Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    you people who have my teaching in your hearts;
do not fear the reproach of others,
    and do not be dismayed when they revile you.(R)
For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
    and the worm will eat them like wool,
but my deliverance will be forever
    and my salvation to all generations.(S)

Awake, 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 Rahab in pieces,
    who pierced the dragon?(T)
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 cross over?(U)
11 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with rejoicing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain joy and gladness,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.(V)

12 I, I am he who comforts you;
    why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,
    a human being who fades like grass?(W)
13 You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    who stretched out the heavens
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
You fear continually all day long
    because of the fury of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction.
    But where is the fury of the oppressor?(X)
14 The oppressed shall speedily be released;
    they shall not die and go down to the Pit,
    nor shall they lack bread.(Y)
15 For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the Lord of hosts is his name.(Z)
16 I have put my words in your mouth
    and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,
stretching out[e] the heavens
    and laying the foundations of the earth
    and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”(AA)

17 Rouse yourself, rouse yourself!
    Stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord
    the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
    the cup of staggering.(AB)
18 There is no one to guide her
    among all the children she has borne;
there is no one to take her by the hand
    among all the children she has brought up.(AC)
19 These two things have befallen you
    —who will grieve with you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword.
    Who will comfort you?[f](AD)
20 Your children 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.(AE)

21 Therefore hear this, you who are wounded,[g]
    who are drunk but not with wine:(AF)
22 Thus says your Sovereign, the Lord,
    your God who pleads the cause of his people:
See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
you shall drink no more
    from the cup of my wrath.(AG)
23 And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    “Bow down, that we may walk on you,”
and you have made your back like the ground
    and like the street for them to walk on.(AH)

Let Zion Rejoice

52 Awake; awake;
    put on your strength, O Zion!
Put on your beautiful garments,
    O Jerusalem, the holy city,
for the uncircumcised and the unclean
    shall enter you no more.(AI)
Shake yourself from the dust; rise up,
    O captive[h] Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
    O captive daughter Zion!(AJ)

For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.(AK) For thus says the Lord God: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause.(AL) Now therefore what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised.(AM) Therefore my people shall know my name; on[i] that day they shall know that it is I who speak—it is I!(AN)

How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
    who announces salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”(AO)
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy,
for in plain sight they see
    the return of the Lord to Zion.(AP)
Break forth; shout together for joy,
    you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.(AQ)
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
    before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
    the salvation of our God.(AR)

11 Depart, depart, go out from there!
    Touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of it; purify yourselves,
    you who carry the vessels of the Lord.(AS)
12 For you shall not go out in haste,
    and you shall not go in flight,
for the Lord will go before you,
    and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.(AT)

The Suffering Servant

13 See, my servant shall prosper;
    he shall be exalted and lifted up
    and shall be very high.(AU)
14 Just as there were many who were astonished at him[j]
    —so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of mortals—(AV)
15 so he shall startle[k] many nations;
    kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
    and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.(AW)

Footnotes

  1. 50.2 Or die on the thirsty ground
  2. 50.4 Cn: Heb of those who are taught
  3. 50.11 Syr: Heb you gird yourselves with firebrands
  4. 51.6 Or in like manner
  5. 51.16 Syr: Heb planting
  6. 51.19 Q ms Gk Syr Vg: MT how may I comfort you?
  7. 51.21 Or humbled
  8. 52.2 Cn: Heb rise up, sit
  9. 52.6 Q ms Syr Vg Tg: MT therefore on
  10. 52.14 Syr Tg: Heb you
  11. 52.15 Meaning of Heb uncertain

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.(A) For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.(B) When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!(C) But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;(D) for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So, then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober,(E) for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.(F) But since we belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.(G) For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,(H) 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.(I) 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.

Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Benediction

12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you;(J) 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.(K) 15 See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.(L) 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good;(M) 22 abstain from every form of evil.

23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound[a] and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.(N) 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.(O)

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us.(P)

26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters.(Q)

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.[b]

Footnotes

  1. 5.23 Or complete
  2. 5.28 Other ancient authorities add Amen