This chapter opens with God challenging Zion's claim of abandonment: where is your mother's certificate of divorce? God's hand is not too short to save. The Third Servant Song (vv.4-9) then presents the Servant as a willing disciple whose ear is opened each morning by God. The Servant endures physical abuse without turning away, trusting that God will vindicate him. The chapter closes with a warning to those who walk by their own light.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The Third Servant Song introduces a new dimension: the Servant suffers willingly and voluntarily. Unlike the Second Song where the Servant laments, here he offers his back to the strikers and his cheeks to those who pull out the beard — a deliberate choice, not passive victimhood. The courtroom metaphor of verses 8-9 casts suffering as a legal contest that God will win.
Translation Friction
The shift between God speaking (vv.1-3), the Servant speaking (vv.4-9), and the prophetic voice (vv.10-11) is abrupt. We have followed the traditional division without smoothing the transitions. The word adonai (Lord/Master) in verse 4 frames the Servant's relationship to God as that of a student to a teacher — the Hebrew limmudim (taught ones/disciples) is rare and significant.
Connections
The Servant's willingness to suffer (v.6) anticipates 52:13-53:12 in vivid detail. The legal language of vindication (v.8, 'Who will contend with me?') is echoed in Romans 8:31-34. The morning-by-morning teaching (v.4) connects to Psalm 119's meditation on Torah. The darkness imagery (v.10) inverts the 'light to the nations' of 49:6.
This is what the LORD says:
'Where is your mother's certificate of divorce
with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors
have I sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.'
KJV Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God challenges the assumption that He initiated the separation. Under Deuteronomy 24:1, a husband must issue a formal divorce document (sefer keritut). God's rhetorical question implies: no such document exists — the covenant was never formally dissolved. Israel's exile was self-inflicted through sin, not divine abandonment.
Why, when I came, was there no one?
When I called, was there none to answer?
Is my hand too short to ransom?
Have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea;
I make rivers a desert.
Their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
God's rhetorical questions invert the complaint: it was Israel who failed to respond, not God who failed to act. The drying of the sea (yam) alludes to the Red Sea crossing — proof that God's power to deliver is undiminished.
I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.
KJV I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The heavens themselves wear mourning garments (saq, sackcloth) — cosmic darkness serves as a sign of divine displeasure and recalls the ninth plague of Egypt (Exodus 10:21-23).
The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
Morning by morning He awakens —
He awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
לִמּוּדִיםlimmudim
"those who are taught"—disciples, learners, those instructed, trained ones
The word limmudim ('taught ones, disciples') from the root l-m-d ('to learn') describes the Servant's tongue as that of a disciple — one who has been trained by God to speak the right word at the right time. The Servant speaks not from his own wisdom but from what he has received.
Translator Notes
This verse opens the Third Servant Song (vv.4-9). The repetition babboqer babboqer (morning by morning) emphasizes daily, habitual communion with God. The Servant's authority to speak comes not from personal wisdom but from disciplined listening.
The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I did not turn backward.
KJV The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The 'opening' of the ear (patach ozen) may echo the ritual of Exodus 21:6, where a servant's ear is pierced as a sign of permanent, voluntary service. The Servant's obedience is stressed by two negatives: not rebellious, not turning back.
I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.
I did not hide my face
from disgrace and spitting.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The Servant's suffering is voluntary — 'I gave' (natatti), not 'they took.' Pulling out the beard was an extreme act of humiliation in the ancient Near East. This verse is central to Christian readings of the Servant as prefiguring Jesus's passion (cf. Matthew 26:67), while Jewish tradition may read it as Israel's suffering among the nations.
But the Lord GOD helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced.
Therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
KJV For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word challamish (flint) evokes the hardest stone known in the ancient world — an image of unyielding resolve. The Servant's confidence rests not in his own strength but in God's help (ya'azar-li). Luke 9:51 uses similar language of Jesus 'setting his face' toward Jerusalem.
He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my accuser?
Let him come near to me.
KJV He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The scene shifts to a courtroom. The Hebrew matsdiqui (He who declares me righteous/vindicates me) places God in the role of judge who pronounces the verdict. Ba'al mishpati (master of my case/my accuser) is a legal term for the opposing litigant. Paul draws directly on this language in Romans 8:33-34.
Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, they will all wear out like a garment;
the moth will consume them.
KJV Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The Servant's accusers are compared to a moth-eaten garment — their case against him will disintegrate. The Third Servant Song ends with absolute confidence in divine vindication.
Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the voice of His servant?
Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely upon his God.
KJV Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The 'servant' (eved) here is referred to in the third person, likely by a prophetic voice commenting on the Servant Song. Those who fear God are called to trust even in darkness — faith without visible evidence, the posture the Servant himself has modeled.
Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who arm yourselves with firebrands —
walk by the light of your fire
and among the sparks you have kindled!
This you shall have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.
KJV Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The chapter ends with a sharp warning contrasting two paths: trusting God in darkness (v.10) versus manufacturing one's own light (v.11). Those who rely on their own fire rather than God's guidance will find their self-made illumination leads only to ma'atsevah (torment/sorrow). The word choice echoes the 'pain' vocabulary of Genesis 3:16-17.