Isaiah 49; Isaiah 50; Isaiah 51:1-3

1 Listen, isles, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: the LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name:

2 and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:

3 and he said to me, You are my servant; Yisra'el, in whom I will be glorified.

4 But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice [due] to me is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.

5 Now says the LORD who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Ya`akov again to him, and that Yisra'el be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of the LORD, and my God is become my strength);

6 yes, he says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Ya`akov, and to restore the preserved of Yisra'el: I will also give you for a light to the Goyim, that you may be my salvation to the end of the eretz.

7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Yisra'el, [and] his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of the LORD who is faithful, [even] the Holy One of Yisra'el, who has chosen you.

8 Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage:

9 saying to those who are bound, Go forth; to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.

10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water will he guide them.

11 I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

12 Behold, these shall come from far; and, behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.

13 Sing, heavens; and be joyful, eretz; and break forth into singing, mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

14 But Tziyon said, the LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.

15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

17 Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you.

18 Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall surely clothe you with them all as with an ornament, and gird yourself with them, like a bride.

19 For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now shall you be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.

20 The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too small for me; give place to me that I may dwell.

21 Then shall you say in your heart, Who has conceived these for me, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?

22 Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

23 Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the eretz, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the LORD; and those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?

25 But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.

26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Ya`akov.

1 Thus says the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.

2 Why, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can't redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

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

4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.

5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.

6 I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn't hide my face from shame and spitting.

7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

8 He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.

9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

10 Who is among you who fears the LORD, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of the LORD, and rely on his God.

11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who gird yourselves about with firebrands; walk you in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. This shall you have of my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.

1 Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hold of the pit whence you were dug.

2 Look to Avraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

3 For the LORD has comforted Tziyon; he has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like `Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.