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Identify the explicit claims before importing later doctrine or assumptions.
ISAIAH • CHAPTER 50
Isaiah 50
Judgment, holiness, Jerusalem, Assyria, exile, restoration, the servant songs, hope, nations, and new creation.
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Isaiah 50
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1
Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away?
Or to which of my creditors have I sold you?
Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,
and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
Or to which of my creditors have I sold you?
Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,
and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
2
Why, when I came, was there no one?
When I called, why was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea.
I make the rivers a wilderness.
Their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst.
When I called, why was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea.
I make the rivers a wilderness.
Their fish stink because there is no water, and die of thirst.
3
I clothe the heavens with blackness.
I make sackcloth their covering.”
I make sackcloth their covering.”
4
The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary.
He awakens morning by morning,
he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary.
He awakens morning by morning,
he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
5
The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear.
I was not rebellious.
I have not turned back.
I was not rebellious.
I have not turned back.
6
I gave my back to those who beat me,
and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.
I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair.
I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
7
For the Lord Yahweh will help me.
Therefore I have not been confounded.
Therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I won’t be disappointed.
Therefore I have not been confounded.
Therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I won’t be disappointed.
8
He who justifies me is near.
Who will bring charges against me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Who will bring charges against me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9
Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me!
Who is he who will condemn me?
Behold, they will all grow old like a garment.
The moths will eat them up.
Who is he who will condemn me?
Behold, they will all grow old like a garment.
The moths will eat them up.
10
Who among you fears Yahweh
and obeys the voice of his servant?
He who walks in darkness
and has no light,
let him trust in Yahweh’s name,
and rely on his God.
and obeys the voice of his servant?
He who walks in darkness
and has no light,
let him trust in Yahweh’s name,
and rely on his God.
11
Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves,
walk in the flame of your fire,
and among the torches that you have kindled.
You will have this from my hand:
you will lie down in sorrow.
who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves,
walk in the flame of your fire,
and among the torches that you have kindled.
You will have this from my hand:
you will lie down in sorrow.
PROPHETIC
Where this chapter fits
Isaiah uses prophetic or apocalyptic language shaped by political crisis, judgment, hope, symbolic imagery, and expectations about God's action in history.
Chapter numbers were added long after the biblical books were written.
Read this chapter together with what comes immediately before and after it.
ANCIENT TEXT, MODERN QUESTIONS
Historical claims should be compared with historical evidence.
Scientific claims should be compared with science.
Moral claims should be examined morally.
Theological claims require theological and philosophical argument.
QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING
Don't skip the hard parts.
What kind of literature is this?
Narrative, poetry, prophecy, law, letters, wisdom, and apocalypse communicate differently.
What historical evidence matters?
Ask whether names, places, institutions, events, customs, and chronology can be independently investigated.
What are the strongest competing interpretations?
Compare serious Jewish, Christian, academic, and skeptical readings rather than caricatures.
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