Isaiah 50
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

1Thus says the Lord:
Where is your mother’s bill of divorce
    with which I put her away?
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 put away.
2Why was no one there when I came?
    Why did no one answer when I called?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
    Or have I no power to deliver?
By my rebuke I dry up the sea,
    I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water,
    and die of thirst.[a]
3I clothe the heavens with blackness,
    and make sackcloth their covering.

The Servant’s Humiliation and Vindication

4The Lord God has given me
    the tongue of a teacher,[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.
5The Lord God has opened my ear,
    and I was not rebellious,
    I did not turn backward.
6I 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.

7The 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;
8    he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
    Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
    Let them confront me.
9It 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.

10Who 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?
11But 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.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 50:2 Or die on the thirsty ground
  2. Isaiah 50:4 Cn: Heb of those who are taught
  3. Isaiah 50:11 Syr: Heb you gird yourselves with firebrands
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.





Bible Hub

Isaiah 49
Top of Page
Top of Page