Isaiah:50-51

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* Thus hath said the Lord , Where is your mother ’s bill of divorcement , wherewith I have sent her away ? or who of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you ? behold , for your iniquities were ye sold , and for your transgressions was your mother sent away . * Why did I come and no man was there , did I call , with none to answer ? hath my hand become too short for redeeming ? or is there no power in me to deliver ? behold , through my threatening I can dry up the sea , I can change the rivers into a wilderness : their fish stink for want of water , and die for thirst . * I can clothe the heavens with blackness , and I can make sackcloth their garment . * The Lord Eternal hath given me a tongue for teaching , that I should know how to strengthen the weary with the word : he wakeneth morning by morning , he wakeneth my ear to listen like those who are well taught . * The Lord Eternal hath opened me my ear , and I resisted not : I turned not backward . * My back I gave up to the smiters , and my cheeks to those that plucked off the hair : my face I hid not from abuse and spitting . * But the Lord Eternal ever helpeth me ; therefore was I not confounded ; therefore have I rendered my face like a flint , and I knew that I should not be made ashamed . * He that justifieth me is near ; who will contend with me ? let us stand forward together : who hath a dispute with me ? let him come near to me . * Behold , the Lord Eternal will help me ; who is the man that will condemn me ? lo , they all shall wear out as a garment : the moth shall eat them up . * Who is among you that feareth the Lord , that hearkeneth to the voice of his servant ? though he have walked in darkness , and had no light : let him trust in the name of the Lord , and lean for support upon his God . * Behold , all ye that kindle fire , that urge on the brands : walk by the blaze of your fire , and by the brands ye have kindled ; from my hand hath this been bestowed on you ; in pain shall ye lie down . * Hearken to me , ye that pursue righteousness , that seek the Lord : look unto the rock whence ye were hewn , and to the hole of the pit whence ye were dug up . * Look unto Abraham your father , and unto Sarah that bore you ; for he was one when I called him , and I blessed him , and I increased him . * Yea , the Lord hath comforted Zion ; he hath comforted all her ruins ; and he hath made her wilderness like Eden , and her desert like the garden of the Lord : gladness and joy shall be found therein , thanksgiving , and the voice of song . * Listen unto me , my people ; and O my nation , give ear unto me ; for a law shall proceed from me , and my justice will I establish as a light of the people . * My righteousness is near ; my salvation goeth forth , and my arms shall judge the people : on me the isles shall wait , and for my arm shall they hope . * Lift up your eyes to the heavens , and look upon the earth beneath ; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke , and the earth shall wear out like a garment , and they that dwell thereon shall die in like manner ; but my salvation shall exist for ever , and my righteousness shall not be delayed . * Hearken unto me , ye that know righteousness , O people in whose heart my law is : ye must not fear the reproach of men , and of their revilings shall ye not be in dread . * For like a garment shall the moth eat them up , and like wool shall the worm eat them ; but my righteousness shall exist for ever , and my salvation from generation to generation . * Awake , awake , put on strength , O arm of the Lord : awake , as in the ancient days , in the generations of olden times . Art thou not it that struck down Rahab , that pierced the crocodile ? * Art thou not it that dried up the sea , the waters of the great deep ; that rendered the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to pass through ? * And shall the ransomed of the Lord return , and come to Zion with song , with everlasting joy upon their head ; gladness and joy shall they obtain , while sorrow and sighing shall have fled away . * I , I am he that comforteth you : who art thou , that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal that must die , and of a son of man who will wither as the grass ? * And thou forgettest the Lord , thy Maker , who hath spread out the heavens , and laid the foundations of the earth ; and thou dreadest continually , all the day , because of the fury of the oppressor , whenever he aimeth to destroy : and where is the fury of the oppressor ? * The exile will be speedily set free ; and he shall not die in the dungeon , and his bread shall not fail . * For I am the Lord thy God , who stirreth up the sea that its waves roar : the Lord of hosts is his name . * And I have placed my words in thy mouth , and with the shadow of my hand have I covered thee : to plant the heavens , and to lay the foundations of the earth , and to say to Zion , Thou art my people . * Rouse up , rouse up , arise , O Jerusalem , thou who hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury : the deep cup of confusion hast thou drunk , hast thou drained . * There is none to lead her , from all the children whom she hath born ; and there is none that taketh her by the hand , from all the children whom she hath brought up . * Two things are these which have befallen thee : who will have compassion for thee ? desolation and destruction , and famine and sword ––with whom shall I comfort thee ? * Thy children have fainted , they lie at the entrance of all streets , as a wild bull caught in a net , who are full of the fury of the Lord , the threatening of thy God . * Therefore hear now this , O thou afflicted , and drunken , but not with wine . * Thus hath said thy Lord , the Eternal , and thy God , who will ever plead for his people , Behold , I have taken out of thy hand the cup of confusion , the deep cup of my fury : thou shalt never more drink it again . * And I will place it in the hand of those who have tortured thee , that have said to thy soul , Bend thee down , that we may pass over ; and thou madest like the earth thy back , and like the street for those that passed over . * Awake , awake , put on thy strength , O Zion ; put on thy beautiful garments , O Jerusalem , thou holy city ; for no more shall enter into thee henceforth the uncircumcised and the unclean .

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