The Servant, Israel’s Hope
Thus says the Lord:
“Where is athe certificate of your mother’s divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My bcreditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities cyou have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
2 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 arebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
3 aI clothe the heavens with blackness,
bAnd I make sackcloth their covering.”
4 “Thea 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 bweary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God ahas opened My ear;
And I was not brebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
6 aI gave My back to those who struck Me,
And bMy cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and cspitting.
7 “For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore aI have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
8 aHe is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
9 Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
aIndeed they will all grow old like a garment;
bThe moth will eat them up.
10 “Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who awalks in darkness
And has no light?
bLet 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—
aThis you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down bin torment.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.