What does Isaias Chapter 50 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The passage retains its particular declarations, images and conditions. Edition interpretations remain identified separately from the chapter’s speech. Historical additions and universal practical guarantees are not treated as source facts.

Chapter breakdown

Isaias 50 asks about a mother's divorce bill and a creditor to whom children were sold. Iniquities and wicked deeds explain sale and dismissal. No one was present or heard when the Lord came and called. Questions reject shortened saving power; rebuke makes sea desert, rivers dry and fish rot and die of thirst, while heaven receives darkness and sackcloth.

The next speaker receives a learned tongue to uphold the weary and an ear awakened each morning to hear as a master. The Lord opens his ear; he neither resists nor goes back. His body is given to strikers, cheeks to those plucking them and face remains exposed to rebuke and spitting. The precise scourge, beard and judgment-seat location are not specified. Divine help brings an unconfounded face set like hard rock; the nearby justifier accompanies a challenge to adversaries who perish like moth-eaten garment.

The one fearing the Lord and hearing his servant while walking dark is urged to hope and lean on God. Those kindling fire and encompassed with flames are told to walk in their light; by the speaker's hand they sleep in sorrows. Perpetuity and failed artificial sparks are not stated. The edition heading interprets this through synagogue and Christ; the account does not turn that heading into a universal explanation that all human suffering comes from disobedience.

The story inside

Opening: The passage retains its particular declarations, images and conditions. Development: Edition interpretations remain identified separately from the chapter’s speech. Conclusion: Historical additions and universal practical guarantees are not treated as source facts.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The passage retains its particular declarations, images and conditions.
2
Edition interpretations remain identified separately from the chapter’s speech.
3
Historical additions and universal practical guarantees are not treated as source facts.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 82751–82753
50:4. The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master.
Lines 82758–82760
50:6. I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.