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  2. Sun: Exodus 29-30
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Tuesday · Week 19
The Early Prophets

Isaiah 49-50

Week 19 · about 8 min
  1. Wed: 2 Samuel 7-12
  2. Thu: Ephesians 1-3
  3. Fri: Ezekiel 36-37

The Servant speaks again, and God answers Zion’s fear that she’s been forgotten.

Written on the Palms of His Hands

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Isaiah 49:15-16 (KJV)

The Servant feels he has worked for nothing. God tells him that restoring Israel is too small a job, so he will also be “a light to the Gentiles.” Zion complains, “The LORD hath forsaken me.” God answers with a picture. A nursing mother might forget her baby, but he won’t forget his people. Their names are engraved on his hands. In chapter 50 the Servant says, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” He sets his face like flint and doesn’t turn back. That reads a lot like Jesus walking toward Jerusalem and the cross.

Reflect: When you feel forgotten, what does it mean that your name is written on God’s hands?

Isaiah 49

1Hearken, O isles, unto me, And attend, O peoples, from afar, Jehovah from the womb hath called me, From the bowels of my mother He hath made mention of my name.

2And he maketh my mouth as a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He hath hid me, And He maketh me for a clear arrow, In His quiver He hath hid me.

3And He saith to me, ‘My servant Thou art, O Israel, In whom I beautify Myself.'

4And I said, ‘For a vain thing I laboured, For emptiness and vanity my power I consumed, But my judgment is with Jehovah, And my wage with my God.

5And now, said Jehovah, who is forming me from the belly for a servant to Him, To bring back Jacob unto Him, (Though Israel is not gathered, Yet I am honoured in the eyes of Jehovah, And my God hath been my strength.)

6And He saith, ‘It hath been a light thing That thou art to Me for a servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And the preserved of Israel to bring back, And I have given thee for a light of nations, To be My salvation unto the end of the earth.'

7Thus said Jehovah, Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the despised in soul, To the abominated of a nation, To the servant of rulers: ‘Kings see, and have risen, princes, and worship, For the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, The Holy of Israel, and He chooseth thee.'

8Thus said Jehovah: ‘In a time of good pleasure I answered thee, And in a day of salvation I helped thee, And I keep thee, and give thee, For a covenant of the people, To establish the earth, To cause to inherit desolate inheritances.

9To say to the bound, Go out, To those in darkness, Be uncovered. On the ways they feed, And in all high places is their pasture.

10They do not hunger, nor thirst, Nor smite them doth mirage and sun, For He who is pitying them doth lead them, And by fountains of waters doth tend them.

11And I have made all My mountains for a way, And My highways are lifted up.

12Lo, these from afar come in, And lo, these from the north, and from the sea, And these from the land of Sinim.

13Sing, O heavens, and joy, O earth, And break forth, O mountains, with singing, For comforted hath Jehovah His people, And His afflicted ones He doth pity.

14And Zion saith, ‘Jehovah hath forsaken me, And my Lord hath forgotten me.'

15Forget doth a woman her suckling, The loved one -- the son of her womb? Yea, these forget -- but I -- I forget not thee.

16Lo, on the palms of the hand I have graven thee, Thy walls are before Me continually.

17Hastened have those building thee, Those destroying thee, and laying thee waste, go out from thee.

18Lift up round about thine eyes and see, All of them have been gathered, They have come to thee. I live, an affirmation of Jehovah! Surely all of them as an ornament thou puttest on, And thou bindest them on like a bride.

19Because thy wastes, and thy desolate places, And the land of thy ruins, Surely now are straitened because of inhabitants, And far off have been those consuming thee.

20Again do the sons of thy bereavement say in thine ears: ‘The place is too strait for me, Come nigh to me -- and I dwell.'

21And thou hast said in thy heart: ‘Who hath begotten for me -- these? And I bereaved and gloomy, A captive, and turned aside, And these -- who hath nourished? Lo, I -- I was left by myself, these -- whence are they?

22Thus said the Lord Jehovah: ‘Lo, I lift up unto nations My hand, And unto peoples I raise up Mine ensign, And they have brought thy sons in the bosom, And thy daughters on the shoulder are carried.

23And kings have been thy nursing fathers, And their princesses thy nursing mothers; Face to the earth -- they bow down to thee, And the dust of thy feet they lick up, And thou hast known that I am Jehovah, That those expecting Me are not ashamed.

24Is prey taken from the mighty? And the captive of the righteous delivered?

25For thus said Jehovah: Even the captive of the mighty is taken, And the prey of the terrible is delivered, And with thy striver I strive, and thy sons I save.

26And I have caused thine oppressors to eat their own flesh, And as new wine they drink their own blood, And known have all flesh that I, Jehovah, Thy saviour, and thy redeemer, Am the Mighty One of Jacob!'

Isaiah 50

1Thus said Jehovah: ‘Where is this -- the bill of your mother's divorce, Whom I sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Lo, for your iniquities ye have been sold, And for your transgressions Hath your mother been sent away.

2Wherefore have I come, and there is no one? I called, and there is none answering, Hath My hand been at all short of redemption? And is there not in me power to deliver? Lo, by My rebuke I dry up a sea, I make rivers a wilderness, Their fish stinketh, for there is no water, And dieth with thirst.

3I clothe the heavens with blackness, And sackcloth I make their covering.

4The Lord Jehovah hath given to me The tongue of taught ones, To know to aid the weary by a word, He waketh morning by morning, He waketh for me an ear to hear as taught ones.

5The Lord Jehovah opened for me the ear, And I rebelled not -- backward I moved not.

6My back I have given to those smiting, And my cheeks to those plucking out, My face I hid not from shame and spitting.

7And the Lord Jehovah giveth help to me, Therefore I have not been ashamed, Therefore I have set my face as a flint, And I know that I am not ashamed.

8Near is He who is justifying me, Who doth contend with me? We stand together, who is mine opponent? Let him come nigh unto me.

9Lo, the Lord Jehovah giveth help to me, Who is he that declareth me wicked? Lo, all of them as a garment wear out, A moth doth eat them.

10Who is among you, fearing Jehovah, Hearkening to the voice of His servant, That hath walked in dark places, And there is no brightness for him? Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, And lean upon his God.

11Lo, all ye kindling a fire, girding on sparks, Walk ye in the light of your fire, And in the sparks ye have caused to burn, From my hand hath this been to you, In grief ye lie down!

Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). Public domain.