# Isaiah 50.4 **Book:** [Isaiah](/codex/isaiah-the-prophet/) · ASV ## Immediate context (±2 verses) **ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/)) > 2. Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot 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 for thirst. 3. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. > > **4. The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught.** > > 5. The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. 6. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (Isaiah 50:2-6, ASV) **WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/)) > 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 for thirst. 3. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and 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 wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.** > > 5. The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear, and 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. (Isaiah 50:2-6, WEB) **KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/)) > 2. Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot 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 stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. 3. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. > > **4. The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.** > > 5. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. 6. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (Isaiah 50:2-6, KJV) **YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/)) > 2. Wherefore 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. 3. I clothe the heavens [with] blackness, And sackcloth I make their covering. > > **4. The 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.** > > 5. The Lord Jehovah opened for me the ear, And I rebelled not, backward I moved not. 6. My back I have given to those smiting, And my cheeks to those plucking out, My face I hid not from shame and spitting. (Isaiah 50:2-6, YLT) ## Setting - **Speaker:** the Servant of YHWH (the third of four Servant Songs: Isa 42:1-9; 49:1-13; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12) - **Audience:** the exilic and post-exilic Israel; Christianly, the Christ-figure addressing the church - **Location:** unspecified; vision-context within Second Isaiah's prophetic horizon - **Time period:** Second Isaiah's prophetic horizon, c. 540 BC; Christianly fulfilled in Christ's earthly ministry ## Theological reading The third Servant Song presents the Servant as the **perfectly hearing one**. The Lord *"wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught"*, the disposition the Hebrew *shama*-anthropology demands at its purest: the Servant's ear is opened daily by YHWH for the day's word; what is heard terminates in faithful-speech ("the tongue of them that are taught") and faithful-suffering (v. 6). The Christian-canonical reading hears this fulfilled in Christ's prayed-down dependence on the Father, *"the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing"* (Jn 5:19); *"I do nothing of myself; but as the Father taught me, I speak these things"* (Jn 8:28); *"I have not spoken from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say"* (Jn 12:49). The Servant's perfect *shama* is the new-Adam reversal of Eden's failure-to-hear (Gen 3:17, *"because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife"*, Adam *heard* the wrong voice). The verse anchors the Christological-listening-pattern that runs from the Servant Songs through John's Gospel into the church's discipleship (Mt 11:15, *"he that hath ears to hear, let him hear"*). ## Key words - [H8085 - shama](/codex/h8085-shama/), *lishmoa*, the verb of the Servant's wakened ear; the *shama*-paradigm at its purest. ## See also - [H8085 - shama](/codex/h8085-shama/), lexical entry treating the verse - Compare: [Isaiah 6.9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/) (the inversion, judicial-hardening severs the hearing-action terminus); Jn 5:19, 30; 8:28; 12:49, Christ as the listening Son - Isaiah 53, the fourth Servant Song fulfilling what this Song anticipates ## Quoted in **People:** - [Isaiah the Prophet](/codex/isaiah-the-prophet/), via [Isaiah 50.4-11](/codex/isaiah-50-4-11/) **Lexicon:** - [H5650 - ebed](/codex/h5650-ebed/), via [Isaiah 50.4-11](/codex/isaiah-50-4-11/) - [H8085 - shama](/codex/h8085-shama/) **Passages:** - [Isaiah 6.9-10](/codex/isaiah-6-9-10/) ## Why these four translations ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance. The four: - **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition. - **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English. - **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base. - **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff. See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.