Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience

Isaiah 50

1 Thus says the Lord:
"Where is g your mother's certificate of divorce,
with which h I sent her away?
Or i which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
j Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
 2 k Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
l Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
m Behold, by my rebuke n I dry up the sea,
o I make the rivers a desert;
p their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
 3 q I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering."

4 The Lord God has given r me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that s I may know how to sustain with a word
t him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
 5 u The Lord God has opened my ear,
v and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
 6 w I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.

7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
x therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
 8 y He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
 9 z Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.

10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys a the voice of his servant?
b Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
 11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
c This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.

  1. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 24:1
    When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house.
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:8
    She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.
    Hosea 2:2
    Plead with your mother, plead - for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband - that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts.
  3. Cross References
    2 Kings 4:1
    Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.
    Matthew 18:25
    And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
  4. Cross References
    Isaiah 59:2
    But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 42:18 - 23
    Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 59:1
    Behold, the Lord 's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear.
    Numbers 11:23
    And the Lord said to Moses, "Is the Lord 's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.
  7. Cross References
    Psalms 104:7
    At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
    Psalms 106:9
    He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
    Nahum 1:4
    He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers.
    Isaiah 19:5 - 6
    And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched.
  8. Cross References
    Exodus 14:21
    Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
  9. Cross References
    Joshua 3:16
    The waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.
  10. Cross References
    Exodus 7:18
    The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile."'
    Exodus 7:21
    And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
  11. Cross References
    Jeremiah 14:22
    Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.
    Revelation 6:12
    When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood.
  12. Cross References
    Exodus 4:11
    Then the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord ?
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 40:1 - 2
    Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
  14. Cross References
    Matthew 11:28
    Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
  15. Cross References
    Psalms 40:6
    In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
  16. Cross References
    John 14:31
    But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
    Philippians 2:8
    And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
    Hebrews 5:8
    Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
    Hebrews 10:7
    Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'
  17. Cross References
    Isaiah 53:5
    But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
    Matthew 26:67
    Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him.
    Matthew 27:26
    Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
    Mark 15:19
    And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.
    Luke 22:63
    Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him.
  18. Cross References
    Ezekiel 3:8 - 9
    Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.
  19. Cross References
    Romans 8:33 - 34
    Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
  20. Cross References
    Isaiah 41:10
    Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
  21. Cross References
    Isaiah 50:4
    The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
    Isaiah 49:2 - 3
    He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.
  22. Cross References
    Isaiah 42:16
    And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
    Micah 7:8
    Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.
  23. Cross References
    John 9:39
    Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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