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 Jehovah: Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, By which I dismissed her? Or who is he among my creditors To whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities are ye sold, And for your transgressions was your mother dismissed.

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, was no man at hand? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand too short to redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, And make the rivers a desert. Their fish putrefy for want of water, And die with 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 blackness, And make sackcloth 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.

The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of the learned, That I might know how to strengthen with my words them that are weary; He wakeneth me every morning, He wakeneth mine ear, That I may hear in the manner of the learned.

5 Yahweh our God has spoken to me [IDM], and I have not rejected what he told me; I have accepted [LIT] it.

The Lord Jehovah opened mine ear, And I was not disobedient, Neither did I withdraw myself backward.

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.

I gave my back to the smiters, And my cheeks to them that pluck the beard; I hid not my face from shame 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.

But the Lord Jehovah is my helper, Therefore shall I not be confounded; Therefore have I made my face like a flint, For I know that I shall 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].

He that defendeth my cause is near; Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together! Who is my adversary? Let him come 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).

Behold, the Lord Jehovah is my defender; Who is he that shall condemn me? Behold, they shall all waste away like a garment; 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 is there among you that feareth Jehovah, That hearkeneth to the voice of his servant, That walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, 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]!

Behold, all ye who kindle a fire, Who gird yourselves with burning arrows! Walk ye in the light of your fire, And in the burning arrows which ye have kindled. This shall ye have from my hand; Ye shall lie down in sorrow.