Passage

Isaiah 50.4

Book: Isaiah · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (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)

"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)

"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)

"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, lishmoa, the verb of the Servant's wakened ear; the shama-paradigm at its purest.

Quoted in

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 (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
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 for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.