Isaiah 50 - I Set My Face Like a Flint
Struck and shamed, the servant still trusts the Lord GOD who helps him.
This chapter opens where Isaiah 49 leaves off, with God asking why Israel acts as though sold away for good when his hand is not too short to redeem. The servant then speaks in the first person, describing an ear wakened morning by morning to hear and obey.
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.
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:
I clothe the heavens with gloom, And, of sackcloth, make I their covering.
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;
My Lord, Yahweh, opened mine ear, And, I, was not rebellious,—Away, turned I not:
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.