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Israel Will Be Free
12 “·People of Jacob [L Jacob], listen to me.
·People of Israel [L Israel], ·I have called you to be my people [L whom I called].
I am ·God [L he; the one];
I am the ·beginning and the end [L first and I am the last; 41:4; 44:5].
13 I ·made [L laid the foundation of] the earth with my own hands.
With my right hand I spread out the skies.
When I call them,
they ·come [stand] together before me.”
14 All of you, come together and listen.
·None of the gods [L Who among them…?] said these things would happen.
The Lord ·has chosen someone [has an ally; or loves him; C a reference to Cyrus, king of Persia; see 41:2; 44:28–45:6; 46:11; 48:14–16]
to carry out his ·wishes [desire; purpose] against Babylon,
·to attack [L his arm will be against] the Babylonians;
15 “I have spoken; I have called him.
I have brought him, and I will make him successful.
16 Come to me and listen to this.
From the ·beginning [first] I have ·spoken openly [L not spoken in secret].
From the time it ·began [happened], I was there.”
Now, the Lord God
·has sent me with his Spirit [or and his Spirit have sent me; C Cyrus is probably speaking here; vv. 14–15].
17 This is what the Lord, ·who saves you [your Redeemer],
the Holy One of Israel [1:4], says:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you ·to do what is good [what is best; or how to succeed],
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 If you had obeyed my commands,
you would have had peace like a river [C abundant and overflowing; 66:12].
·Good things [Your righteousness] would have flowed to you like the waves of the sea.
19 ·Your ·children [descendants] would have been ·as numerous as [L like] ·sand in the sea [L sand]
and your ·descendants [offspring/seed of your body] like grains of sand [10:22; Gen. 15:5; 22:17; Hos. 1:10].
·They [L Their name] would never have ·died out [been cut off]
nor been destroyed.”
20 ·My people, leave [L Go out from] Babylon!
Run from the ·Babylonians [L Chaldeans]!
Tell this news with shouts of joy to the people;
spread it ·everywhere on [L to the end of] earth.
Say, “The Lord has ·saved [redeemed] his ·servants, the people of Jacob [L servant Jacob].”
21 They did not become thirsty when he led them through the deserts.
He made water flow from a rock for them.
He split the rock,
and water flowed out [43:19; Ex. 17:6; Num. 20:11].
22 “There is no peace for ·evil people [the wicked],” says the Lord.
God Calls His Special Servant
49 All of you ·people in faraway places [or islands; or coastlands], listen to me.
·Listen [Pay attention], all you nations far away.
·Before I was born [L From the womb], the Lord called me to serve him.
The Lord named me while I was still in my mother’s womb [C this passage (49:1–13) is the second of four “servant songs” in Isaiah; 42:1].
2 He made my ·tongue [mouth] like a sharp sword [C his words enact judgment; 11:4; Heb. 4:12; Rev. 1:16].
He hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me like a ·sharp [or polished] arrow.
He hid me in ·the holder for his arrows [his quiver].
3 He told me, “Israel, you are my servant.
I will show my glory ·through [in] you.”
4 But I said, “I have worked hard ·for nothing [in vain];
I have used all my power, ·but I did nothing useful [for nothing; in futility].
But ·the Lord will decide what my work is worth [L my judgment/vindication is the Lord’s];
God will decide my reward.”
5 The Lord made me in the ·body [womb] of my mother
to be his servant,
to lead ·the people of Jacob [L Jacob] back to him
so that Israel might be gathered to him.
·The Lord will honor me [L I am honored in the eyes of the Lord],
and ·I will get my strength from my God [L God will be my strength].
6 Now he told me,
“·You are an important servant to me [It is too small a thing; or Is it too small a thing…?]
to ·bring back [restore; raise up] the tribes of Jacob,
to bring back the ·people of Israel who are left alive [remnant/preserved ones of Israel].
I will make you a light for the nations [42:6; Luke 2:32; Acts 13:47]
so that my salvation will reach ·people all over the world [L the end of the earth].”
7 The Lord ·who saves you [the Redeemer], the Holy One of Israel [1:4].
says to the one who is ·hated [L despised and abhorred] by the ·people [or nation; or nations],
to the servant of rulers.
This is what he says: “Kings will see you and ·stand [rise; C to honor him];
·great leaders [princes] will bow down before you,
because the Lord ·can be trusted [is faithful].
He is the Holy One of Israel [1:4], who has chosen you.”
The Day of Salvation
8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the ·right time [time of favor] I will ·hear your prayers [answer you].
On the day of salvation I will help you [2 Cor. 6:2].
I will protect you,
and ·you will be the sign of my agreement with [L I will give/establish you as a covenant for] the people [42:6].
·You will bring back the people to the land [L …to restore/rebuild the land]
and ·give the land that is now ruined back to its owners [L bequeath its desolate inheritances].
9 You will tell the prisoners, ‘·Come out [42:7].’
You will tell those in darkness, ‘·Come into the light [Show yourselves; Appear].’
·The people [L They] will ·eat [feed; graze] beside the roads [C the people are symbolically pictured as sheep],
and they will find ·food [pasture] even on bare hills.
10 They will not be hungry or thirsty.
Neither the ·desert wind [L heat] nor the hot sun will ·hurt [strike] them.
The God who comforts them will lead them
and guide them by springs of water.
11 I will make my mountains into roads,
and the ·roads [highways] will be raised up [C to make a level road; 40:4].
12 Look, people are coming to me from far away,
from the north and from the west,
from ·Aswan in southern Egypt [L the land of Sinim].”
13 Heavens, shout with joy;
earth, be happy;
mountains, burst into song,
because the Lord comforts his people
and will have ·pity [compassion] on ·those who suffer [the oppressed].
Jerusalem and Her Children
14 But ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple] said, “The Lord has ·left [abandoned; forsaken] me;
the Lord has forgotten me.”
15 The Lord answers, “Can a woman forget the baby she nurses?
Can she feel no kindness for the child ·to which she gave birth [of her womb]?
Even if she could forget her children,
I will not forget you.
16 See, I have ·written [engraved; inscribed] your name on my ·hand [palms].
·Jerusalem, I always think about your walls [L Your walls are always before me; C destroyed by the Babylonians].
17 Your children ·will soon return to you [L hurry; hasten],
and the people who defeated you and destroyed you will leave.
18 ·Look up [L Lift up your eyes] and look around you.
All your children are gathering to return to you.”
The Lord says, “As surely as I live,
·your children will be [L you will wear them all] like ·jewels [or ornaments]
·that a bride wears proudly [L you will put them on like a bride].
19 “You were destroyed and defeated,
and your land was made ·useless [desolate].
But now you will have more people than the land can hold,
and those people who ·destroyed [devoured] you will be far away.
20 The children ·born to you while you were sad [L of your bereavement]
will say to you,
‘This place is too small for us.
Give us a bigger place to live.’
21 Then you will say ·to yourself [L in your heart],
‘Who ·gave me all these children [bore me these]?
I was ·sad [bereaved] and ·lonely [barren],
·defeated [rejected] and ·separated from my people [exiled].
So who reared these children?
I was left all alone.
Where did all these children come from?’”
22 This is what the Lord God says:
“See, I will lift my hand ·to signal [L to] the nations;
I will raise my banner for all the people to see.
Then they will bring your sons back to you in their ·arms [L bosom; lap],
and they will carry your daughters on their shoulders [C Jews returning from exile are pictured as children returning to their parents].
23 Kings will ·teach your children [be guardians/foster parents],
and ·daughters of kings [princesses; or queens] will take care of them.
They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground
and ·kiss the dirt [lick the dust] at your feet.
Then you will know I am the Lord.
Anyone who ·trusts in [hopes in; waits on] me will not be ·disappointed [or ashamed].”
24 Can ·the wealth a soldier wins in war [spoils; plunder] be taken away from ·him [a warrior; a strong man]?
Can a prisoner be freed from a ·powerful soldier [tyrant][a]?
25 This is what the Lord says:
“The ·prisoners [captives] will be taken from the ·strong soldiers [mighty one].
·What the soldiers have taken will be saved [L …and spoils/plunder rescued from the tyrant].
I will fight ·your enemies [L those who fight with you],
and I will save your children.
26 I will force ·those who trouble you [your enemies/oppressors] to eat their own flesh.
Their own blood will be the wine that makes them drunk.
Then ·everyone [all flesh] will know
I, the Lord, am the One who saves you;
I am the Powerful One of Jacob ·who saves you [your redeemer].”
Israel Was Punished for Its Sin
50 This is what the Lord says :
“People of Israel, you say I ·divorced [L sent away] your mother.
Then where is the certificate of divorce that proves it?
Or ·do you think I sold you to pay a debt [L to which of my creditors did I sell you]?
Because of ·the evil things you did [your sins/iniquities], I sold you.
Because of ·the times she turned against me [your transgressions], your mother was sent away.
2 ·I came home and found [L Why, when I came, did I find…?] no one there;
I called, but no one answered.
·Do you think I am not able [L Is my hand too short] to ·save [redeem] you [59:1]?
Do I not have the power to save you?
·Look [T Behold], ·I need only to shout and [L With my rebuke] the sea becomes dry [Ex. 14:21].
I change rivers into a desert [Josh. 3:16],
and their fish rot because there is no water;
they die of thirst.
3 I can ·make the skies dark [L clothe the skies/heavens in darkness; Rev. 6:12];
I can make ·them black like clothes of sadness [L sackcloth their covering].”
God’s Servant Obeys
4 The Lord God gave me the ·ability to teach [L tongue of a student/learned one]
so that I know what to say to make the ·weak [weary] strong.
Every morning he wakes me.
He ·teaches me [L awakens my ear] to listen like a student [C this passage (50:4–11) is the third of four “servant songs” in Isaiah; see 42:1].
5 The Lord God ·helps me learn [or speaks clearly to me; L has opened my ear],
and I have not ·turned against him [rebelled]
nor ·stopped following him [turned away/back].
6 I offered my back to those who beat me.
I offered my cheeks to those who ·pulled [ripped out] my beard.
I ·won’t [or did not] hide my face from them
when they ·make fun of [mocked; insulted; shamed] me and spit at me [53:5; Matt. 26:67; 27:26; Mark 15:19; Luke 22:63].
7 The Lord God helps me,
so I will not be ·ashamed [disgraced].
I ·will be determined [L have set my face like flint; Ezek. 3:8–9],
and I know I will not be ·disgraced [put to shame].
8 He ·shows that I am innocent [vindicates], and he is ·close to me [near].
So who can ·accuse me [bring charges against me; Rom. 8:33–34]?
If there is someone, let us ·go to court [L stand up] together.
·If someone wants to prove I have done wrong [L Who are my accusers?],
he should ·come and tell [challenge; L come near] me.
9 Look! It is the Lord God who helps me.
So who can ·prove me guilty [condemn me]?
Look! All those who try will ·become useless like old clothes [wear out like a garment];
moths will eat them.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys his servant?
The person who walks in the dark without light
should trust in the [L name of the] Lord and depend on his God.
11 ·But instead [or Look; Behold], ·some of you want to [L all of you who] light your own fires
and make your own light.
So, go, walk in the light of your fires,
and trust ·your own light to guide you [the torches you have ignited].
But this is what you will receive from ·me [my hand]:
You will lie down in ·a place of pain [torment; C could refer to physical pain in the present world or to the torment of hell].
The Way You Should Live
17 ·In the Lord’s name [or By the Lord’s authority; L In the Lord], I ·tell you [L speak and testify to] this. Do not continue ·living [walking] like ·those who do not believe [the pagans; L the Gentiles], whose thoughts are ·worth nothing [futile]. 18 They ·do not understand [L are darkened in their minds/understanding] and they are ·separated [excluded; alienated] from the life ·God gives [or God has; L of God] because of their ignorance ·and because of [or caused by] ·their stubbornness [or their closed minds; L the stubbornness of their heart/mind]. 19 They have lost ·all feeling of shame [or any sense of right and wrong; L all feeling/sensitivity], and they ·use their lives for doing evil [abandon themselves to indecency/depravity]. They ·continually want to do [or greedily pursue] all kinds of ·evil [impurity]. 20 But ·what you learned in Christ was not like this [or that is not how you learned about Christ; L you did not learn Christ that way]. 21 ·I know that [L …if indeed] you heard ·about him [or him], and you ·are in him, so you were taught the truth that is in Jesus [or were taught by him, because the truth is in Jesus]. 22 You were taught to ·leave [put off; lay aside] your old ·self [L person]—to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self ·becomes worse [is decaying/being corrupted], because ·people are fooled by the evil things they want to do [L of the deceitfulness of their desires]. 23 But you were taught to be made new in ·your hearts [the spirit/attitude of your minds], 24 to ·become [put on; clothe yourself with] the new ·self [L person; or Man; C become like Christ]. That new person is created ·to be like God [or in God’s image; L according to God]—truly good and holy [or in the righteousness and holiness that comes from truth].
25 So you must stop telling lies. ·Tell each other the truth [L Let each one of you speak truthfully to his neighbor; Zech. 8:16], because we ·all belong to each other in the same body [L are members of one another]. 26 ·When you are angry, [or Be angry, and] do not sin [Ps. 4:4; C there is a time for righteous anger, but it must not result in sin], and ·be sure to stop being angry before the end of the day [L don’t let the sun set on your anger]. 27 Do not give the devil a ·way to defeat you [foothold; opportunity]. 28 Those who are stealing must stop stealing and start working. They should ·earn an honest living for themselves [do something good/useful with their hands]. Then they will have something to share with those who ·are poor [L have need].
29 Don’t ·say anything that will hurt others [L let any rotten/unhealthy word come from your mouth], but only say what is ·helpful [good] to ·make others stronger [build others up] ·and meet [L according to] their needs. Then what you say will ·do good [give grace; be a gift] to those who listen to you. 30 And do not ·make the Holy Spirit sad [grieve/bring sorrow to the Holy Spirit]. ·The Spirit is God’s proof that you belong to him and he will make you free when the final day comes […by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption]. 31 Do not be bitter or angry or ·mad [raging]. Never shout angrily or ·say things to hurt [slander; insult] others. ·Never do anything [Get rid of all kinds of] evil. 32 Be kind and ·loving [compassionate; tenderhearted] to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.
A Cry for Help
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A psalm of David.
69 God, ·save me [give me victory],
because the water has risen to my neck [C the waters of chaos].
2 I’m sinking down into the ·mud [mire],
and there is nothing to stand on.
I ·am in deep water [have come into the depths of the waters],
and the flood ·covers [overwhelms] me.
3 I am ·tired [exhausted] from calling for help;
my throat is ·sore [dry].
My eyes are ·tired [worn out] from ·waiting [hoping]
for God to help me.
4 There are more people who hate me for no reason than hairs on my head;
·powerful [or many] enemies want to destroy me for no reason.
They make me ·pay back [return]
what I did not steal.
5 God, you know ·what I have done wrong [my foolishness];
I cannot hide my guilt from you.
6 Lord God ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts],
do not let those who ·hope in [wait for] you be ashamed because of me.
God of Israel,
do not let ·your worshipers [L those who seek you] be disgraced because of me.
7 For you, I carry this ·shame [reproach; scorn],
and my face is covered with disgrace.
8 I am like a stranger to my closest relatives
and a foreigner to my mother’s children.
9 My ·strong love [jealousy; passion; zeal] for your ·Temple [L house] ·completely controls [L consumes] me [John 2:17].
·When people insult you, it hurts me [L The reproaches/scorn of those who reproach/scorn you fall on me; Rom. 15:3].
10 When I ·cry [weep] and fast,
they ·make fun of [reproach; scorn] me.
11 When I wear ·rough cloth [sackcloth; burlap; C a sign of grief],
·they joke about me [L I am a byword/proverb/joke to them].
12 ·They make fun of me in public places [L Those who sit in the gate complain about me],
and the drunkards make up songs about me.
13 But I pray to you, Lord, ·for favor [or at an appropriate time].
God, because of your great ·love [loyalty], answer me.
You are ·truly able [faithful] to ·save [give victory].
14 ·Pull [Protect] me from the ·mud [mire],
and do not let me sink.
·Save [Protect] me from those who hate me
and from the deep water.
15 Do not let the flood ·drown [overwhelm] me
or the deep water swallow me
or the ·grave [L pit] close its mouth over me.
16 Lord, answer me because your ·love [loyalty] is so good.
Because of your ·great kindness [abundant compassion], turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from me, your servant.
I am in ·trouble [distress]. Hurry to ·help [L answer] me!
18 Come near and ·save [ransom] me;
·rescue [redeem] me from my enemies.
5 Wise people ·have great power [or are mightier than strong people],
and those with knowledge ·have [or than those with] great strength.
6 So you need ·advice [guidance] when you go to war.
If you have lots of ·good advice [counselors], you will win.
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