Isaiah 50
1 This is [also] what Yahweh says: “You [Israeli children], do not think [RHQ] that I [forced your parents to be exiled/taken to Babylonia] [MET] like some men send away their wives after giving them a paper on which they state that they were divorcing them! I certainly did not [RHQ] get rid of you like a man who sells his children to get money to pay what he owes. No, the reason that I forced you to be exiled [was to punish you] because of the sins that you have committed [DOU].
Thus, saith Yahweh—Where then is the scroll of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? Or, which of my creditors, is it to whom I have sold you? Lo! for your iniquities, have ye been sold, And for your transgressions, hath your mother been put away.
2 When I came to you [to rescue you], why did no one answer when I called out to you [RHQ]? Was there no one there [RHQ]? Or, did you think that I do not have the power [MTY] to rescue you [DOU]? Think about this: I can speak to a sea and cause it to become dry! I can cause rivers to become deserts, with the result that the fish in the rivers die from thirst and they rot.
Wherefore, When I came in, was there no one? When I called, was there none to answer? Is mine own hand, really shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or is there not, in me, strength to deliver? Lo! by my rebuke, I dry up the sea I make rivers a desert, Their fish Stinketh, for want of water, Yea dieth, for thirst:
3 I cause the sky to become dark, [as though] [MET] it was wearing black clothes [because it was mourning because someone had died].”
I clothe the heavens with gloom, And, of sackcloth, make I their covering.
4 Yahweh our God has given me his wise message [MTY] in order that I may encourage those who are weary. Each morning he awakens me, in order that I [SYN] may listen to what he teaches [SIM] me.
My Lord Yahweh, hath given unto me the tongue of the instructed, That I should know how to succour the fainting, with discourse, —He kept wakening—morning by morning. He kept wakening mine ear, to hearken as do the instructed;
5 Yahweh our God has spoken to me [IDM], and I have not rejected what he told me; I have accepted [LIT] it.
My Lord, Yahweh, opened mine ear, And, I, was not rebellious, —Away, turned I not:
6 I allowed people to beat me on my back and to pull out the whiskers in my beard [because they hated me]. I did not turn away [MTY] from them when they made fun of me and spat on me.
My back, gave I to smiters, and My cheeks, to them who pulled out the beard, —My face, hid I not from insult and spitting.
7 But, because the Lord our God helps me, I will never be humiliated. Therefore, I am strongly determined [IDM] to face/endure difficulties, and I know that nothing will cause me to be ashamed.
Because, My Lord, Yahweh, would help me, Therefore was I not deterred by insult, —Therefore did I set my face like flint, And I knew that I should not be put to shame.
8 God, the one who vindicates me, is near to me; so if anyone [RHQ] stands in front of me and accuses me in a court, he will not be able [to show that I have done anything that is wrong].
At hand, is one who can justify me. Who will contend with me? let, us stand forth together, —Who can accuse me? let him draw near to me!
9 The Lord our God defends me [in court], so no one [RHQ] will be able to (condemn me/declare that I am guilty). All those who accuse me will disappear like [SIM] old clothes that have been eaten by ([larvae of] moths/cockroaches).
Lo! My Lord, Yahweh, will help me, Who is he that shall prove me lawless? Lo! they all, as a garment, shall fall to pieces, the moth shall consume them.
10 If you revere Yahweh and do what his servant tells you to do, even if you are (walking in darkness/enduring suffering), and it seems that [MET] there is no light, trust in Yahweh your God [DOU] [to help you].
Who among you, revereth Yahweh, Hearkening unto the voice of his Servant, —That hath walked in dark places And hath had no gleam of light? Let him trust in the name of Yahweh, And lean upon his God.
11 But you people who [oppose me], [who would like to throw] me into a blazing fire, walk in your own fires and burn yourselves with your own torches! This is what Yahweh will cause to happen to you: You will be enduring great torment when you die [EUP]!
Lo! all ye that kindle a fire, That gird yourselves with fiery darts, —Walk ye in the blaze of your own fire. And in the fiery darts ye have kindled, At my hand, hath this befallen you, In sorrow, shall ye lie down.
